


Demonfire

by Unicornfoal



Category: TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 21:17:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2788079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unicornfoal/pseuds/Unicornfoal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Knocked out of the battlegrid while fighting with her friends, Flamey found a strange door in a glitched grid, leading to an endless white void. The first thing she saw in the white was a strange ball of white noise, hanging in the air behind a pair of crossed chains and an almost comically large padlock...</p><p>Demon-Flamey AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Slip Into the Ether

"We can wait for Kirb here. He shouldn't take too long to show up."

With a burst of flame from her gloved hands, the campfire at their usual waiting spot lit up, casting an orange glow on their character models as they sat down on the provided large stones on either side. Alpha looked preoccupied as he stared into the fire, hands clasped to stop himself fiddling nervously with his long sleeves, and Flamey couldn't help but worry about her friend. She had a tendency to worry about him anyway, but since she'd never let that stop her before, she didn't hesitate to give him her best sympathetic look. "You okay?"

Alpha blinked in surprise as he looked up, his train of thought broken. "I'm fine," he insisted with a smile. "Just, y'know," he paused to shrug, "thinking about this hacker thing."

Flamey scoffed and crossed her arms, glaring off to one side. "Don't listen to Kirb," she replied. "We'll take care of those assholes this time! They've been plaguing TOME since it was _released_ and we're gonna stop 'em today!" A moment later, she noticed Alpha had returned his worried gaze to the fire, and moved her hands to her lap as she put on a kinder look. "Especially with your help! There's a reason Nye asked _you_ , y'know."

Her friend just shrugged. "I guess."

"No 'guessing' about it," Flamey replied insistently, wagging a finger at Alpha. "You're a good player, and everyone can see it!" She smiled knowingly. "Why do you think Kirb's always jumping you the moment you log on?"

At that, Alpha couldn't help but laugh, and gave his friend a smile. "Yeah, he has a problem with that!"

Flamey grinned as she internally congratulated herself for successfully cheering him up.

However, Alpha wasn't done. He frowned in thought, and asked, "Although, and I hate to agree with Kirb on this, given everything you've told me about them, what makes you think me being there will really help one way or another?" He shrugged. "If they've been doing this for months and not even the moderators have stopped them..."

Sighing, Flamey leaned forward, head resting on a hand. "It hasn't been the same two all this time; these guys are just the latest to show up." She glared off into the distance. "Once we managed to get a moderator's attention and get one of these guys banned, but all the others just leave on their own after a while, nothing to do with us, and some new asshole _always_ steps up to take their place."

"Wow," Alpha breathed. "I'm sorry..."

"S'not your fault," Flamey replied automatically, shaking her head and she crossed her arms with a resigned look. "If we were stronger, though... I just  _know_ we'd be able to overpower them." She gave Alpha a determined look, almost causing her friend to shrink away from her gaze. " _That's_ why I think we can win if you help out. It might finally be enough to tip the balance in our favour!"

The redhead shuffled nervously in his seat. "Um, sure," he mumbled, "if you think so."

Before Flamey could reply, a body came flying out of the trees and slammed into their campfire, bouncing into the grass beside them as Flamey and Alpha jumped out of their seats to dodge the small explosion of flame, their wings flaring as the speed-boost they provided was suddenly activated.

"WHO PUT THIS CAMPFIRE HERE? WHO DOES THAT? _AUGH!_ " a white imp complained loudly as he leapt to his feet, putting out the fire in his star-shaped fringe with a mitten-like hand.

Restraining a chuckle, Flamey and Alpha barely glanced at each other before both adopting casual poses. Flamey loudly cleared her throat, hiding a smile, while Alpha waved as he called "What up?"

Kirb silently sighed to himself and looked somewhere between guilty and irritated, a usual look for him. "Yeah, so those chumps I was supposed to be beatin' down?"

Flamey heard laughter behind her and turned to see five other players emerging from the treeline. There seemed to be one of each class, with a robot, a pink slime-like creature, a lizard-man, a martial artist, and a wizard. She heard Kirb request her and Alpha's help and decided without even thinking that she would agree, but not for Kirb's sake; Talking about the hackers had her riled up, and she was going to relish the opportunity right now to take out some of that frustration on something harmless, such as, as Kirb liked to put it, 'beating down these chumps'. Grinning, she moved into a battle stance. "Alright people, while I'm sure my _esteemed colleague_ here deserves whatever pounding you're about to give him, -"

" _Thanks._ "

"- the truth is, let's face it, only _scrubs_ play this game without a grid!" she taunted.

The robot grinned and looked around at his friends cockily, who seemed amused by her bold statements. "What are you gonna do about it?" he asked.

Behind her, Flamey heard Alpha ask "Load it up?"

Her grin widened. " _Please._ "

**BATTLE ON!**

Immediately Flamey raced forward, and was quickly met by the martial artist of the opposing group. They traded punches and shots for a few seconds before Flamey activated her Rocket Burn attack and flipped into the other girl's avatar with an explosion of fire, logging her out. Flamey didn't rest though, turning her attention to helping out Kirb, who was caught between the wizard and the reptile-man (he looked more like a snake than a lizard, now she thought about it). Making a split-decision, she jumped for the snake-man, kicking him away from Kirb to give herself more space to take care of him properly. Kirb barely glanced at her in return, but Flamey wasn't expecting any thanks; He was busy enough dodging the unpredictable attacks of the wizard's teleportation skill, and she was happy to leave him to it.

A bright flash of light erupted through the battlegrid, and everyone simultaneously paused the battle to look around for the source. It took Flamey only a moment to realise that Alpha, who was fighting the robot of the opposing team, had been struck by a powerful beam attack and knocked out of the grid, the winning player of the two laughing in triumph. Alpha's avatar was lying motionless on the grass, and doubtless Alpha himself was waiting for the 'stun' timer to count down and let him stand back up.

"Augh, come on!" Kirb cried in frustration.

"Alpha!" Flamey called, aware of how easy it would be for a loss to discourage her shy friend right now. "You alright?"

Kirb growled, turning to the three remaining fighters on the opposing team. "Right, that's it, you douchebags! I'm not holding back on you anymore!" Before anyone could reply, he leapt on the robot with a roar of fury, waving his katana almost too fast for the relatively slow robot to respond.

Flamey watched as the snake-man she'd been fighting leapt to help his friend, leaving her with the equally shocked-looking wizard. He turned to her with a shrug, then powered up an orb of light in his hand. Thinking he was probably charging up his teleport, Flamey dropped back into her battle stance and leapt at him with her Rocket Burn attack, spinning through the air as her character was sheathed in flames.

The one downside to the Rocket Burn was that it was a  _blind_ attack, as in Flamey couldn't see what she was doing when she activated it. It was a routine peril of a first-person game, and one everyone who signed up to TOME for the battles had to accept. She simply pointed her character in a direction and let it go, and more often than not it ended with her landing safely on the ground while her opponent was logged out or simply knocked out of the battlegrid, depending on where she was. The one time it could backfire instead, a scenario she hadn't faced very often outside of her hacker-fighting hobby, was if the other player had some way to counter, or even _overpower_ , her fire.

Unfortunately for Flamey, the wizard was _not_ powering up a teleport.

Midway through her Rocket Burn, a bright blast of magic hit Flamey, slicing through her shield of fire and throwing her into the air. She instinctively kept her eyes closed until she heard the loud thud of her character hitting the ground, and quickly registered she was lying on her back. Sitting up wasn't a blocked action, so she determined she hadn't been 'stunned', but something about it seemed off to her. As she looked up, ready to continue her fight, the 'something wrong' suddenly became extremely obvious; The battlegrid around her was empty, devoid of anything but her, and she could no longer hear the sounds of battle either. "Guys?" she called, but there was no answer, and she almost kicked herself for expecting one. _'If I can't hear them, of_ course _they can't hear me!'_ As she watched, the grid around her changed colour, the black lines turning white while the red-and-blue pattern behind blackened in contrast. "What's going on?"

A whisper echoed through the air, and Flamey somehow felt it was coming from behind her, spinning around to face it. In the grid was a rectangular opening, much like a door, with nothing but blank white space beyond, undoubtedly the source of the static-y noise. Flamey's first instinct was to avoid it, but her curiosity quickly overcame any wary feelings and she walked through into the vast whiteness.

Behind her, the door slammed shut.

The first thing Flamey saw in the white was a strange ball of white noise, hanging in the air behind a pair of crossed chains and an almost comically large padlock. She regarded it from a distance for a few moments, and was ready to dismiss the odd sight outright before she heard, or rather _felt_ , a strange voice ringing in her head.

_**hello** _

Almost jumping in surprise, Flamey prepared to attack at a moment's notice, pointing her finger at the thing behind the padlock and readying a small flame ready to fire. "Who's there!?" she spat, disguising her fear with anger. "What's going on here!?"

_**how can i help you** _

Flamey paused, not expecting that answer. "Help?" she repeated, lowering her finger. "You can 'help' me get out of here, or, better yet, _answer my questions_!"

_**you have a problem** _

"Sure I have a problem," Flamey replied, dropping her battle stance as she crossed her arms, convinced that, whatever this thing was, it wasn't going to attack her. "My problem is _you!_ "

**_you need to be strong to defeat your enemies_ **

At that, Flamey froze. "What?" she asked in a small voice.

_**if you do not remain strong you will lose everything** _

_**your enemies will control this world that you love** _

_**your friends will abandon you because you could not protect them** _

Flamey shook herself out of her shock. "And what makes you so sure that will happen?" she demanded. "Who _are_ you?"

_**just another friend** _

There was a long moment of silence as Flamey digested this answer. She wanted to shout at whatever this thing was, say it was lying, that her friends would never leave her and they would defeat the hackers eventually... but she knew it would just be hollow words, the seeds of doubt that it had planted growing fast. Flamey edged towards the strange contraption. "First things first: Can I trust you?"

_**i will help you like no one else possibly could** _

Flamey took a deep breath in and out. It wasn't a surefire answer either way, but the lure of being powerful enough to finally take care of the hackers was overcoming her common sense, so she stepped forward and held up her hand to the padlock. "No catch?" she asked.

_**only that you let me in** _

She paused, hand resting on the padlock. "What?"

_**so that i can be let out** _

The padlock opened on its own, and although Flamey jumped back in fear, the ball of static behind the chains quickly grew and overtook the endless white space around her, obscuring her vision. She felt a pressure on her mind, a strange headache that forced her to double forward in pain as she clutched her head with a cry that quickly turned into a scream.


	2. Fire and Brimstone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies in advance for my total inability to write Rockoon very well! Mac says "speaks like a five-year-old" and "makes up words just to rhyme", but it doesn't seem to have helped, unfortunately!
> 
> I also went back and did some minor editing to Chapter 1, since I apparently failed to proofread it properly and it was littered with errors.

Kirb sighed in exaggerated relief as the battlegrid finally faded, the wizard lying motionless on the grass in front of him. "Well, that was supposed to be the _fun_ part of the game," he called, sheathing his katana as he turned around. "We had some laughs though, right?"

Alpha shrugged, staring at the stunned snake-man and torn-apart robot still lying in the grass. "I guess so," he mumbled.

Scoffing, Kirb walked over to join his friend. "'Course it is! Who cares about _social networking,_ honestly?" He paused as he looked around. "Wait, where's Flamey?"

Alpha frowned. "Wasn't she fighting in the battlegrid with you?"

"Not since shortly after you got knocked out," Kirb replied, frowning. "That Dumbledore-wannabe blasted her to kingdom come!"

"That can't be," Alpha said with a shake of his head. "I'd've seen her if she got kicked out here!"

Kirb huffed. "I'm not lying!"

"I-I didn't say you were," Alpha replied, backing off nervously from his friend with hands raised. "I believe you, I-I just haven't seen her!"

"Ahem."

The boys both turned and saw Flamey standing not far away from them, exactly in a spot she was most definitely not earlier. "Hey, there you are!" Alpha called with an overly friendly wave as he tried to pretend nothing was wrong. "We were just worrying about you!"

Flamey smiled darkly. "Worry? About me? Please." She turned and began walking off into the woods confidently. "I don't know about you, Alpha, but I think it's high time we took care of some hackers, don't you?"

"U-um, okay," Alpha replied, hurrying to catch up and waving at Kirb over his shoulder. "Seeya later, Kirb!"

"Wait!" Kirb cried, holding up a hand, but his friends were already gone. He frowned suspiciously at the direction they had gone in for a few moments more before steeling himself and following behind.

 

* * *

 

"Well well well. What have we here?" Flamey asked herself as she and Alpha approached the latest pair of hackers to terrorise Lavendera. They grinned confidently back at her, and she almost laughed to herself that they had no idea who they were messing with.

The green slimy hacker, username Doubling, smirked. "Isn't that _my_ line?" he asked.

"Man, this girl is funny!" the small raccoon, username Rockoon, cried. "She thinks she can take us!" He heard a sound behind him and turned just in time to see Nye and GC emerge from behind a nearby pillar. "Oh ho ho, and she brought some _friends!_ "

"Stand back, you villains!" Nye ordered, holding his sword high, but he paused as GC leaned in to talk to him. They were too far away for Flamey to hear what they said, so she dismissed them from her mind for now to concentrate on the two hackers in front of her.

"F-Flamey?" Alpha timidly spoke up from behind her. "Are you alright?"

Flamey smiled, giving her friend only a glance. "Of course I am," she said. "It's these hackers that you should be showing concern for."

Doubling chuckled. "Wow, do you _really_ think you can do anything to us, pipsqueak?" He waved at her. "C'mon, why don't you show us what you got, huh?"

"And _we_ ," Rockoon chimed in with a laugh, "can show _you_ a lil somethin'-somethin'!"

"I'd be glad to," Flamey replied, eyes narrowed above her confident smirk.

**BATTLE ON!**

She waited only a fraction of a second before activating her flame shield and dashing in Rockoon and Doubling's direction. Rockoon immediately pulled out some bombs to throw at her, but they were easily dodged and Flamey kicked the small rodent far across the battlegrid before turning to face Doubling, who had circled her in an attempt at surprise. She jumped at him, coating herself with flames to partially break apart the slime-man, but he pulled himself back together and morphed into a muscular looking shape.

"Okay," Doubling growled, "kid gloves off, f***wad."

He readied a punch, but Flamey caught it with one hand, coating herself in flames again for her Angry Burst attack. Doubling tried to break through it by force, but was eventually forced to withdraw, his character model turning red from the heat. Flamey was about to attack him again when Rockoon came rocketing out of the ground beneath her, and she instead jumped back and activated her Rocket Burn, spinning into Rockoon with such force that he was knocked to the ground, and would have been stunned had it not been altered to not activate for his character.

Flamey walked up to the prone raccoon with a stern look. "Had enough," she asked, "or do I need to continue?"

Rockoon sat up, glaring at the young woman stood above him. "I ain't gotta listen to you, motherscratcher!" he objected angrily before grinning wickedly. "Not when I'm having so much fun _blowin' everythin' up!_ "

Smirking, Flamey only replied, "If you insist." Around her activated a firey grey shield, striped with yellow, and the silhouette of her character was just barely visible beyond, hair blowing in an invisible breeze.

"Bomb time!" Rockoon shouted as he jumped away from Flamey to regain some distance, taking no heed of the shield and tossing more of his bombs at Flamey, who only raised a hand and absorbed the damage without a thought. This only seemed to insult Rockoon, and he cried "Oh, you gon' _pay_ now!", activating a tornado attack and dashing at Flamey physically. The moment he made contact with her shield, everyone else in the general vicinity jumped in surprise as he shouted in pain, retreating to Doubling's side and repeatedly crying "Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!"

Snaking his long neck around to Rockoon's face, Doubling frowned. "What's this 'ouch' s***?" he demanded.

Rockoon sniffed loudly. "It hurts, man," he cried, "legit!" He rested the back of one clawed hand on his forehead dramatically. "The owie-owies, they don't quit!"

Doubling made a motion like he was rolling his eyes. "Get outta my way, you furry f***," he cried, pushing Rockoon to one side. "I got this." Ignoring Rockoon's protests, and Flamey's amused smirks from within her strange shield, he extended one stretchy arm towards her, but, again, the moment he made contact with the shield, he jumped back with loud, prolific swearing. "What _is_ that!?" he shouted. "What even _is_ that!?"

Flamey resisted a chuckle to herself as Rockoon chastised his friend for not listening to him. "I can do this all day," she said. "Are you two ready to give up?"

"Turn that thing off!" Doubling demanded. "That's not even funny!"

"Yeah, what he said!" Rockoon chimed in.

Her first instinct was to refuse, but a small part of Flamey recognised the hackers had been actually hurt, so she silently acquiesed to their request and lowered her shield. _'Just to prove I can,'_ she told herself.

The instant the grey flames had receded, Rockoon perked right back up. "I'ma make some swiss cheese outta you!" he gloated, and raced forward again with his tornado attack. With a pointed glare, Flamey recalled the firey shield just in time for the raccoon to collide with it, and he jumped back with a loud string of pained gibberish before dropping to the ground.

Doubling gasped. "Holy s***, forget this!"

Flamey blinked in surprised confusion, not even noticing her shield disappearing again. "What?"

"You are _not_ worth what they're payin' me!" Doubling added, and the familiar light of the log-out animation gathered around his character. "Freak." With that, he was gone.

Staring after him into the sky in surprise, Flamey couldn't find the words to react. The bloodlust she'd felt during that fight was suddenly gone, and she was too busy replaying the battle in her mind to say anything other than a small "Oh..."

Rockoon pulled himself to his feet. "Okay, run away!" he cried, and dashed off away from Flamey and her friends... only to be cut apart by Kirb as he arrived with a swing of his sword and a wide grin.

"Yo, what'd I miss, people?" the imp announced, his victim's avatar disappearing as it was logged out.

There was a short pause. "Only the single most amazing battle I've ever seen _in my life!_ " Alpha suddenly gushed, his timidness fading right away as he jumped to Flamey's side with a proud grin. "Flamey just took care of those hackers like they were _nothing_ , it was _awesome!_ "

Flamey herself rubbed an arm with a smile, blushing heavily at the praise.

Kirb's smile died, but he kept his face carefully neutral. "Huh."

"You shoulda _seen_ it!" Alpha added gleefully. "That obnoxious slimy guy was all 'You don't stand a chance', and the loudmouth little raccoon was like 'I'ma blow you up', but Flamey just _annihilated_ them in battle and they ran out of here like their _lives_ depended on it, it was _so cool!_ "

Kirb's slight frown deepened. "Is that so."

Flamey giggled as Nye joined in on Alpha's gushing, dropping to the floor as he proclaimed 'Lady Flamegirl of Hacker-Busting' to be a 'true warrior-in-arms'. "Guys, you're making a big deal out of nothing," she said with a humble smile. "Honestly, let's just be glad those hackers are finally gone, huh?"

"Not necessarily," GC pointed out. "Regardless, we still owe you our thanks for taking care of these two." He nodded his head in a small bow. "We shall have to see what the future holds."

Kirb watched in silence as Nye pulled himself back to his feet to continue his loud proclamations of Flamey's bravery, but kept enough of a cool head to keep himself out of the conversation and not impulsively try to _top_ that fight he'd been spying on a moment before. There was no mistaking what he'd witnessed, though it was taking a different form than he was used to. _'This is_ not _going to be a very fun ride...'_


	3. A Speedy Kidnapping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was that Episode 13, huh? :D I'm not ashamed to say I've watched it about four or five times now, inbetween writing for this story of course! And, sod's law, it's as I'm writing for the episode introducing Neomutant that we learn more about him, though it'll be a while 'til that one gets uploaded here. xD

**TO: Flamegirl - FROM: Alpha**

**> On the road to :mechcity! You're**

**at "The Platform" right? Be there in**

**a little while! :]**

 

Alpha hit send and watched the PM disappear into the digital ether. "There!" he said, turning to Nylocke stood nearby. "She should be expecting us when we arrive!"

Nye nodded. "Indeed!" he cried, back to his usual self after his awkward response to Alpha's 'girlfriend' question earlier. "Let us proceed!" He waved at Alpha and began to walk back down the path towards the central region of TOME.

They walked in silence for a few moments. Alpha mused to himself on Flamey, and her incredible skill when it came to this game. If he'd had any other friends, he knew for sure he'd be annoying them with constant talk of her win against the hackers the past week... and, despite what Nye thought, it had nothing to do with any 'womanly wiles' and, honestly, she was more likely to be protecting _him_ than the other way around.

"Hey, Alpha!" Nylocke and Alpha stopped their confident striding in surprise, looking up and around before locating what appeared to be Flamey on top of a nearby cliff. She was a fair distance away, but her character model, and voice, was still uniquely recognisable. "Alpha, c'mere! I need to talk to you!" she continued.

Nye gave Alpha a knowing look, waggling an eyebrow. "Well, well!" the dragon-man said.

Alpha glared, deciding to ignore his friend's teasing for now, and took a step towards Flamey. "About what? Weren't you supposed to be in Mechcity?"

"I'll explain later!" Flamey cried, waving at Alpha to hurry up. "C'mon, this is really important!"

"Hurry along, Sir Alpha," Nye said, encouraging the redhead with a sly grin. "Don't keep the fair lady waiting!"

Alpha was certain he was blushing so hard, it was probably visible on his avatar. Regardless, he called up to Flamey, "Alright, I'm coming!"

"Awesome!" Flamey replied. "Follow me!" With that, she had gone.

"What!?" Alpha cried in surprise, pausing only a moment before getting a running jump up onto the cliff. "Flamey, wait up!"

Nye sighed as he watched the pair disappear out of sight. "Ah, young love!" With a nod to himself, he continued along the path to Mechcity. Surely Whyti and Saturndiva would still be hanging around there, and he hadn't spoken to them in a while. _'I had better hurry so I don't lose them at that cafe of theirs!'_

 

* * *

 

"Oh hey, he says he's on his way here right now," Flamey said as she finished reading Alpha's PM.

Whyti gasped. "That means we can finally meet him personally!"

"Ah, I don't think so," Sat chimed in with a knowing smile. "I think he's coming down here for Flames, not us." She nudged Whyti's arm with an elbow. "We oughta leave the valentines alone, doncha think?"

"Aw!" Whyti mumbled sadly.

Flamey rolled her eyes. "Guys, don't be stupid. He's just a friend, okay? I'm sure he'll be glad to meet you two."

"Yeah, sure," Sat replied, still giving Flamey that irritating smile. "We'll see when he gets here, huh?"

Resisting the urge to challenge her friends to a match right there and then, Flamey growled. "Look, I know you think I secretly trained, or was holding back or... _something_ just to impress Alpha when I took on the hackers like that, but-!"

"Hey, it's alright!" Whyti interrupted, holding up her hands. "We believe you, Flamey! Sat's just teasing," she turned to Sat, "aren't you?"

Sat stared back at Whyti a moment. " _You_ were, too!" she pointed out.

Whyti looked away guiltily. "Well, um..."

"Don't worry about it," Flamey sighed. "It's... it's fine. I just..." She shook her head, mulling over the right way to voice her thoughts without giving her friends the wrong ideas. "I know I can handle all the attention people have been giving me since I beat those two hackers, but I don't know if Alpha can. He's... sorta shy, y'know? Not very self-confident."

"Aw," Whyti said with a sympathetic look. "You can trust us to be nice to him, Flamey!"

Sat grimaced and sighed, making it look harder than it actually was to agree with Whyti. "Yeah, we'll be nice to 'im if you insist. S'what friends are for, after all."

Flamey smiled. "Thanks, guys." Something down the street caught her attention, and she looked up with a smile. "Hey, it's Nylocke!"

"Ooh!" Whyti cried, spinning in her seat and waving to her favourite of Flamey's friends. "Nylocke!"

Sat laughed to herself. "Should we start turning the tables on you, Whyti?"

"Just let me have this!" Whyti shot back in reply.

Flamey giggled, joining in the waving as her friend got closer. "Hey, Nye!" she called.

Nye was frowning at the trio as he approached their table. "Lady Saturndiva, Lady Whyti," he greeted, then turned to Flamey. "Lady Flamegirl?"

Flamey was about to nod in greeting when she noticed Nye was alone, and returned his confused look. "Where's Alpha? Wasn't he with you?"

"I should be asking _you_ that question!" Nye replied. "Sir Alpha left with you not five minutes hence, back in Lavendera!"

"Now that _can't_ be true," Sat said with a frown. "Flames has been here with us all morning!"

Whyti gasped, hands held to her mouth. "Oh no! Is someone impersonating Flamey!?"

"More importantly," Flamey announced, standing up from her seat, "whoever they are, they've _kidnapped_ Alpha!"

Before anyone could reply, the street exploded into flames. Demonking had arrived.

 

* * *

 

Alpha sighed in relief as Flamey finally came to a halt, standing away from him in one of Lavendera's many side-paths and dead ends between the endless cliffs. "Phew!" He looked around curiously. "Where are we? And why'd we need to be _here_ for you to... well, tell me whatever this important thing is?"

Flamey didn't reply, only turned and slowly walked up to Alpha, her eyes turned away from him. Alpha didn't react as she approached and pulled him into a hug, rubbing a hand through his hair. "I'd say I'm sorry about this," she whispered into his ear, "but this important thing?" She giggled, and suddenly she didn't sound like Flamey anymore. "You are _such a massive idiot._ "

Alpha jerked backwards, pushing the false Flamey away from him as he tried not to panic. "Who the hell are you!?" he demanded through a shaky voice.

Not-Flamey's purple eyes glittered with glee. "Aw, did my little act scare you?" she asked, laughing. "Don't worry, kiddo; it's nothing... personal."

" _Who are you?_ " Alpha repeated, more confidently this time, and he even mustered up a glare to accompany it. "What do you want with me, or with Flamey?"

The impostor only laughed again. "Now now, I can't just _tell_ you everything! That'd ruin the fun!"

As his anger grew, so did Alpha's confidence, and he balled his hands into fists. "I am going to ask you one more time," he threatened, " _who are you?_ "

Not-Flamey grinned at him. "Why don't you come over here and find out, cutie?"

Alpha scowled and leapt at the impostor, activating his Vulcan Fist attack to nail Not-Flamey and throw her backwards across the purple soil, wreathed in flames. As she landed, to his dismay, she only seemed to laugh all the harder, standing up as her disguise fell away from her _real_ form like soot. "Not bad, kiddo!" Her body overall resembled a paintbrush, moreso if she stood up straight, and she waved a wooden hand around to summon a small 'wand', a paintbrush dipped in rainbow paint that was identical to her wild hair. "You take your time to act, don't you?"

**Username: Speedpaint**

**Class: Spellcaster - Power: Animation**

Alpha took a moment to look at her profile. "So that's your name," he growled. "Your power is 'animation'?"

Speedpaint giggled. "Yep. I 'animate' new looks for myself whenever I get bored." She shot him a sly grin. "New voices too, if I can manage 'em."

The redhead decided to ignore whatever she was trying to imply. "What do you want?"

"Pfft!" Speedpaint cried, waving a hand dismissively. "You don't know?" She giggled. "You really _are_ a bit dim-witted, aren't you?"

"Just _tell_ me!" Alpha ordered.

Speedpaint rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay! Don't need to be so _pushy_ ," she mumbled, then fixed her grin back on her face. "I'll just say this straight out for ya, pumpkin: I'm, well, what you'd call a 'hacker'."

Alpha almost gasped in surprise. "You're with those guys Flamey fought off!?"

"Mm-hmm!" the paintbrush chirped, holding a hand against the side of her face as though she was resting her head on it. "Your little girlfriend is very... _intriguing_ to my employer. Although, if you're as stupid as you've proven to be, I doubt you'd know why."

It took Alpha a moment of thought to connect the dots, but he never got the chance to speak them, as a voice rang through the pathway around them.

"Hey, asshole!"

Alpha spun around and saw Flamey storming towards them, hands balled into fists and a death glare focussed on the hacker behind him. "Flamey!" he cried in relief.

"Aw, what took you so long, baby?" Speedpaint said in a low voice, and Alpha looked back and saw that she had taken on _his_ appearance and was striking all sorts of 'sexy' poses. "I've been _dying_ waiting for you to come save me!"

"Buh!? What!?" Alpha stuttered in response.

Flamey stopped her stalking next to Alpha and shot a trio of fireballs from her finger, striking Speedpaint and again eliminating her disguise as she laughed. "Aw, you two are so cute when you're angry!" the hacker cried. " _Unable to take a joke_ , sure, but cute nonetheless!"

"I don't know what kind of _sick prank_ you're pulling here," Flamey growled, "but it's not funny. What the _hell_ do you want?"

"She's a hacker!" Alpha piped up. "I think she's getting revenge for what happened to the other ones!"

Speedpaint laughed. "Like I care about what happened to _those_ guys!" she cried. "No, no... _I'm_ here for your little secret, matchstick." She grinned. "Care to show the class?"

Flamey's glare deepened. "All you want is attention," she replied. "I'm not going to give that to you."

"Really?" Speedpaint raised an eyebrow. "You seem to be doing just that right now!"

Alpha glanced between the two girls worriedly. "F-Flamey...?"

"Fine," Flamey said, but it was unclear who she was responding to. She slowly walked towards Speedpaint, who stepped forward to meet her, and the familiar grey-and-yellow shield of fire sprung up around Flamey's avatar.

Speedpaint regarded the striped shield with interest. "Ooh, very nice!" she said. "It doesn't look nearly as dangerous as I've heard, though." She grinned again. "Sure you didn't scare them away with how pathetic it was in practise?"

Without a word, Flamey threw up a hand and the shield leapt off her to attach to the painted hacker, who writhed and squealed in pain as the flames danced around her avatar.

Alpha could hardly speak. He didn't like, or trust, this 'Speedpaint', but he knew she couldn't be acting this... not after what he'd seen this strange attack do to the other two hackers Flamey had fought. What was worse was that Flamey didn't seem to be intent on _calling off_ her attack anytime soon. Part of him was too terrified to move, preferring to sit back and trust Flamey to pull herself together, while another part of him was screaming to _move_... so, with a deep breath, he did, throwing himself at Flamey to hug her tightly from behind with a cry of "Stop!"

Flamey jerked in surprise and the fire around Speedpaint vanished, leaving her lying on the ground, gasping for air. Placing a hand on Alpha's arms, Flamey stared down at the hacker in shock. "I... I don't even know what that _was_ ," she whispered.

Speedpaint dragged herself up to a sitting position. "Very... good," she wheezed, a forced smile on her face. "A+, in fact." She pulled herself to her feet. "I'd say... that was definitely _real_ pain, wouldn't you?" She shook her head at the pair's shocked expressions. "No, you wouldn't. Of course you wouldn't." She gave them a wave. "Class dismissed... turtledoves." With that, the paintbrush had logged out.

Alpha stepped back from Flamey as she turned to face him, and they both looked at each other sadly. "Sorry," they both said at once.

"I should have handled that _way_ better than I did," Flamey began, frustrated with herself. "I... guess she got me so mad I lost control."

"You handled it better than I did," Alpha pointed out, staring at the ground. "I didn't mean to worry you."

Flamey gave him a smile, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You're okay?"

Alpha nodded, looking up at Flamey with a small smile just visible from behind his scarf.

In the moment before their friends found them, Flamey promised herself never to use that strange shield attack ever again.


	4. Shadow Guard Chaos

"The idol!" Nye shouted.

"Here it comes!" Flamegirl added. The five friends ran from the digital creature as it took shape, regrouping at the edge of their chosen clearing to watch it settle into its final form with a roar. Flamey was awestruck; Sure, it resembled the idol it had sprung from somewhat, but something about its actual appearance nudged at something in the back of her mind. Although she knew she had never seen it before today, something about it had her convinced she was familiar with it somehow... if only she could remember.

"Flamey!" Kirb called. " _Flamey!_ "

The girl blinked herself out of her internal musings and looked down just in time to see a large bomb exploding at her feet. She was gone, screaming in disbelief, in the same instant the battlegrid finished forming around them.

"What the hell!?" Alpha cried.

"Dammit!" Kirb growled. "She was the only one who knew the code to beat this thing!"

Alpha shook his head. "No, Nye was there too!" He looked over to the dragon-man, eyes wide as he bordered on panic. "You remember the order of attacks, right?"

Nye was frozen still, staring dead ahead. "Uh..."

"I'm afraid we have a bigger problem right now," GC pointed out.

The group turned their attention back to the Shadow Guard Beast, hanging in the air nearby. Below it stood a familiar raccoon-like figure, watching them with a grin on his face. "Y'know, I _was_ waiting for a cool lead-in line," he said as he idly studied his long claws, "buuuut maybe it's better I just _show_ you what I got in mind!"

Kirb frowned. "Great."

Throwing his arms in the air dramatically, Rockoon announced, "Welcome to my cage of death! You're goin' _nowhere_ , oh yeah, and it's _plllaytime!_ " He leapt onto the back of the Beast in a single bound, disappearing out of sight.

"Blast!" Nye cried. "A foul hacker interferes with our business!"

"He musta followed me," Kirb added, mentally kicking himself for having let the raccoon out of his sight earlier that day.

Rockoon poked his head over the Beast's shoulder to look down on the battle-ready quartet. "You guys wanna see somethin' cool?" He leaned down out of sight, and the Beast roared, glowing green as it began to morph its shape yet again. The four looked on in horror as, after an excruciating few moments, a monstrous form of Rockoon slammed onto the purple soil, grinning down at them. "And now," he announced, "time to _diiieeee!_ "

Alpha and Kirb glanced at each other. Neither had high hopes for the outcome of the upcoming battle.

Laughing wildly, Rockoon took a swing at the group, who instantly scattered to avoid his attacks, unwilling to test just how much damage a hit would deal. Nye and Kirb managed to duck his arms to whack at him with their swords, but it didn't seem to be doing anything and only caused Rockoon to laugh at them all the more.

"Nye, have you remembered the order of attacks yet!?" Kirb cried in frustration as he dodged yet another swing of Rockoon's claws.

"U-uh...!" Nye replied, similarly jumping away from Rockoon. "Twas Lady Flamegirl who memorised them, I-I'm afraid I cannot recall!"

" _Then think harder!_ " Kirb shouted.

Alpha mustered the courage to take a dive at Rockoon with a Vulcan Fist, bouncing off the unaffected monster and landing not far from Kirb. "Calm down, Kirb!" he ordered. "He wasn't expecting to have to remember it!"

" _I'll calm down when there's a reason to be calm!_ " Kirb retaliated.

"Aw, don't cry, lil' babies!" Rockoon chimed in with a sing-song tone. "I'll let you in on a little secret! _I_ know the five elements y'all need." Before they could react, he'd rolled into a ball and spun towards them, knocking out Alpha, Kirb and then Nye before speeding towards GC.

Kirb pulled himself up, growling at how much health he'd lost, and shouted to their remaining friend, "GC, _hit the deck!_ "

Instead, GC pulled out his Drain Edge, catching Rockoon and holding him off only for long enough to register that the Drain Edge wasn't responding to the hacked creature's attack, and neither did it appear to be causing damage. As he was thrown back, Rockoon giggled to himself. "That tickles!"

Kirb, Nye and Alpha ran to each other, watching the brief one-on-one fight, and Nye raised his sword to cheer on his best friend. "I believe in you, Sir Gamecrazed! Strike down this oversized rodent!"

Rockoon spun around suddenly to glare down at the assembled trio. " _Not_ a rodent!" he objected. "Do I _look_ like a lab-rat!? _Read a book!_ Go to a frikkin'-!"

Taking his opportunity, Alpha threw out his hand in a Zeus Rage attack, the quick bolt of lightning striking Rockoon right in the nose.

" _Hey!_ " Rockoon cried, reacting more to the interruption to his rant than to the attack, and he threw out a hand to swipe the offending trio, forcing them to again scatter. Seeming to decide it was pointless to pursue them, he instead turned back towards Gamecrazed, stalking slowly towards him. "You guys are makin' me crabby," he growled. " _You won't like me when I'm crabby._ "

Taking a page from Alpha's book, Kirb made a running leap at the creature, raising his katana high above his head. "I don't like you right now!" Unfortunately, his ingrained habit of announcing his attacks gave Rockoon enough warning to spin around, whacking Kirb to the side of the clearing with an outstretched paw. As the imp pulled himself to a sitting position, he was surprised to see Alpha and Nye standing in front of him protectively.

"You okay?" Alpha asked, glancing back at his friend.

After a moment's pause, Kirb nodded.

"Stand back, Squire!" Nye announced. "I, _NYLOCKE! MASTER OF PEST CONTROL!_ Shall bring justice upon this foul beast!"

Rockoon paused, then pointed at Nye. "Ayyy!" he said in a cheerful tone, "You're the guy who's always in character!" He laughed. "Who does that? Really? But y'know, I _can_ speak ya language."

Nye glanced over at Alpha in confusion, but the redhead was only able to return his puzzled look.

Clearing his throat, Rockoon held a giant paw to his chest and put on a deep voice. "I shall messeth up thine face so horrid that even thine mother shall not gaze upon thee! For I am, Rockoon! Master of _messing with your mind!_ "

Nye couldn't help a scared squeak. "Goodness..."

"Ignore him," Alpha assured his friend. "He's just trying to scare us!"

"And it's working, ain't it?" Rockoon laughed. "Check this out: I been workin' on my roar!" He took in a deep breath and sent out green shockwaves of sound in the trapped trio's direction, but, just before they reached their target, GC pulled them to safety using his shadows, out of sight of Rockoon.

Nye, Alpha and Kirb sighed in relief as they found themselves hidden behind a pillar on the edge of the clearing, but there was no time to rest. "What do we do?" Kirb asked, his concern for his friends and the game itself overtaking his earlier anger. "I don't even know if we're causing him any damage!"

GC shook his head. "His tampering with the statue has corrupted this area. I am not certain if Flamegirl can return at all."

Nye held his hands to his chest. "Oh, if only I could remember the five-element spell! We might have had a chance!"

"Oh, I know!" Alpha cried, looking hopeful. "We could log out, log back in, find Flamey and _then_ take him on!"

"Yeah, but if we leave the grid that way," Kirb pointed out, frustration leaking back into his tone, "it'll vanish and he might run free while still in this," he waved his hands for effect, " _mutated_ form he's got goin' on! He'll demolish the whole region!"

Alpha frowned. "What, you care about that _now_ but not when he was doing it before?"

"I-!" Kirb objected, but quickly closed his mouth, deciding to ignore the question rather than try and fumble an explanation.

Suddenly the pillar protecting them split open and crashed down around them, and the quartet looked up in horror to see Rockoon's monstrous face leering down at them. "Hmm, y'all ain't as dumb as you look!" the hacker complimented them. "Now who's ready for the grand finale?"

The battlegrid around them flickered, and everyone looked around until they saw a section of the checked wall break open, a yellow-striped grey fireball landing on the ground and uncurling to reveal an angry Flamegirl.

Immediately Rockoon squealed in fear, shivering as he slowly edged away from the intruder. "You! Uh, with the thing! I remember this, a-a-a-and it is _not_ cool!"

Kirb and Alpha glanced at each other in confusion. "What the...?" they said in unison.

"Hey, you oversized rat!" Flamey called, grinning as she held out a fist in the hacker's direction. "I found a little something of yours you lost!"

"You can keep it!" Rockoon cried, waving his hands frantically in Flamey's direction. "Just... back up! _Back up!_ "

Flamey made a dash at the hacker, who shrieked and cowered where he stood. Instead of attacking him, Flamey leapt onto his head and tossed the small broken ear-piece of the Idol at the rip in the monster's ear, where it instantly reconnected. Job done, she made short work of rejoining her relieved friends on the ground.

GC rushed forward with his Shadow Slash attack, and everyone was shocked to see the long-missing health bar pop into existence above Rockoon's head, a significant chunk taken out of it by the attack. GC looked back at his friends with wide eyes. " _Now!_ "

"Alpha," Flamey ordered, turning to each of her friends in turn, "strike him with a lightning bolt on my mark. GC, you attack him next with a shadow attack, then Kirb hit him with your Dust Tornado. Nye, you're after Kirb with an ice attack."

Everyone nodded and ran to circle Rockoon, but Alpha stayed by Flamey's side. "What about you?" he asked.

Flamey grinned. "I'll deal the finishing blow, of course." She turned to the cowering monster. "What's the matter, you big baby?"

"You ain't playin' fair!" Rockoon cried. "You can't be doin' that!"

Flamey raised an eyebrow. "You're one to talk."

"Good point."

Already having enough of the conversation, Flamey looked to Alpha on her right. "Go for it!" she cried.

Two minutes later, the grid was gone, as was the small hacker, and the five friends stood alone in the clearing, encircled in a hug between Nye, Kirb and GC.


	5. Forbidden Flame

"Oh, excuse me for wanting to hang out and play a stupid video game, _for fun,_ instead of obsessing over stuff like hackers, and trying to get a boyfriend!"

"Why don't you just _piss off!_ "

"Why don't _you_ go suck on a railroad spike!"

"Stop it, everyone just _shut up!_ "

Silence reigned for only a second as the two warring friends stopped their argument in shock, turning to face a distressed Alpha. Nye, similarly distressed, stood back from the group, clutching his hands together tightly in an attempt at self-comfort.

GC glanced up at the cliffside behind him. "We have a guest," he announced.

Over their heads leapt a large orange-and-red catlike creature, who slammed into the purple soil and spun around to face Flamey dead on. It turned its head to the sky, all four green eyes glowing as it roared a loud and terrible noise that not only stunned their characters but forced everyone in earshot to recoil from their headphones in real life. GC was the only one seemingly unaffected, moving through the dirt to pop up between the creature and Flamey. He equipped his Drain Edge and made a strike at the cat, but it shrugged him off and raised a terrible paw, thwapping GC and instantly eliminating his character.

"Sir Gamecrazed!" Nye cried, then readied his sword. "Loathsome beast! Have at thee!"

Flamey held up a hand to calm her friend down. "Nylocke, chill out, he's _fine!_ " She groaned, shaking her head. "What the hell was that noise!?"

Kirb waved at the creature casually, and it turned to face him. "Hey, whiskers. We're in the middle of something? So if you could do me a favour and-" The creature slashed at him, but not as powerfully as it had GC, leaving the imp lying on the dirt not far away. "Yeah, that's what I wanted you to do," he wheezed.

The creature returned its attention to Flamey, who recognised the signs of another user wanting a battle and raised her fists. "You want a piece of this?" she asked smugly. "Come and get it!"

Alpha and Nye dashed out of the way as Flamey threw out her hands at Tigerlilly, releasing her Angry Burst attack and covering the large cat's head in flames. Barely wincing at the assault, Tigerlilly raised her paw once again, and quickly slapped a surprised Flamey, throwing her against the cliff wall behind her.

**_you seem to be having some trouble again_ **

"Oh no, you don't!" Flamey growled to herself. "You can go away right now!"

Alpha and Nye glanced at each other, confused. "I thought you wanted to fight them?" Alpha asked.

Flamey shook her head as she pulled herself to her feet. "No no, I wasn't talking to this guy, I was-!"

_**they will not understand** _

Turning her attention back to Tigerlilly, Flamey found herself agreeing with the strange voice. It _was_ a pretty unbelievable story, after all.

_**they do not need to understand** _

Nye held out a fist. "How dare that creature interfere!" he cried.

"C-calm down, Nye!" Alpha replied, watching Flamey intently. "I think something's going on with..."

Tigerlilly again struck Flamey, who was stock still battling with the voice in her head, and the girl was tossed sideways along the wall, away from her friends.

_**let me in** _

Flamey shook her head as she pulled herself into a sitting position. "I already told you, no!" she sharply told the voice off. "I can do this on my own!"

_**if you cannot do it** _

Tigerlilly lifted her face to the sky and again emitted the earsplitting scream that couldn't possibly be a legal move, causing both Nye and Alpha to recoil in pain as they clutched their heads.

"Ow! What the hell is with that!?" Alpha cried.

_**then i will** _

Flamey frowned in confusion. "You wi-?" She cut herself off with a gasp, and her avatar was quickly wreathed once again in the grey flames of her strange shield attack, hiding her entirely from view. As everyone assembled watched, horrified, they heard grunts of pain from their friend, shortly followed by a terrible scream. The flames disappeared in a flash, revealing Flamey, now standing, hunched over against the cliff wall. Her fingers were elongated, turned into sharp claws, and her entire colour scheme had been toned a lot darker, her eyes even becoming black irises on red. The flames had also drastically altered her hair, burning it off at her shoulders as it hung limply around her headband. As she growled in Tigerlilly's direction, wisps of orange flame swirled out of her mouth.

"Heavens," Nye whispered in wide-eyed shock.

Alpha couldn't believe what he was seeing, shaking his head in fear and concern. "F-Flamey?"

Tigerlilly opened her mouth to roar once more, but Flamey was much faster, and leapt forward, kicking her jaw and knocking the large creature back. Before she even had a chance to react, Flamey was on her again, slashing relentlessly at the cat with growls and roars of her own until finally backflipping away and throwing out her hands with a cry, surrounding Tigerlilly in the grey flames. This time, Alpha made no move to stop her, and the giant cat soon exploded into bits.

As the flames dissipated, Flamey slowly lowered her hands with a growl. As Alpha and Nye watched in shock, Kirb finally pulled himself to his feet, throwing a cheerful grin at the girl he'd been arguing with only moments before.

"Well! I dunno _what's_ going on, but," he pulled out his sword, " _somebody_ looks like they wanna play!"

"K-Kirb," Alpha called, "I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

Kirb rolled his eyes. "What, 'cuz you think I'll lose? I'm good, thanks."

Flamey screamed to the heavens, then jumped at Kirb, who parried her attacks with his sword, then leapt over her and struck her with his Dust Tornado attack, which she fought her way out of with a roar.

"Phew!" Kirb said with a smile. "See, you're really gettin' into the fightin' noises now! I _told_ you they put more 'oomph' behind your attacks!"

As Kirb continued his battle with Flamey, GC popped up out of the dirt beside Nye and Alpha, who both turned to him in relieved surprise.

"Hark! Sir Gamecrazed, thou hast returned!" Nye cried.

"Forgive me," GC said, armblade held ready, "but we do not have time."

"D-do you know what's happened to Flamey?" Alpha asked, barely holding himself back from full-on panic.

Meanwhile, Kirb was taunting his possessed friend, the false cheer replaced with determination as he threw her away from him with a swing of his sword. "See? I can dish it back just as well." He pointed his sword at Flamey, who stared at him from across the pathway. "Now quit screwin' around and show me the real deal!"

Flamey spat a couple embers as she growled, then leapt at Kirb, giving him enough time only to gasp before she threw up her hands and surrounded him in her grey fire, lifting him into the air as his katana slipped from his grasp.

"Squire!" Nye shouted.

"Flamey, no!" Alpha ordered, terrified.

The demon who had taken Flamey's place did not listen, and in moments Kirb had been forcibly logged out, the victor of their battle roaring in triumph.

GC turned to his friends. "You need to get as far away from here as possible," he told them.

Nye blinked in surprise. "What ho?"

"But what about Flamey?" Alpha asked. "We can't just let her ran rampant, she's _hurting_ people!"

Flamey suddenly perked up, turning to look down the path for only an instant before dashing out of sight.

"She's vanished!" Nye pointed out.

"Oh, this is a thousand times worse than what happened with Speedpaint!" Alpha whined to himself.

GC closed his eyes, then turned without a word and walked down the path.

"Sir Gamecrazed!" Nye called. "Art thou pursuing them?"

"Please," GC replied, giving his friends only a quick look over his shoulder, "do _not_ follow." He sped away out of sight.

Nye stared off into the distance. "I... I'm stricken with confusion."

Alpha shook his head with a glare. "This is _serious_ , Nye! People are going to get hurt!"

"I-I'm aware," Nye replied, "I just... I-I simply..." He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, if he says we shouldn't, then..."

Huffing to himself, Alpha jumped around his friend to the centre of the path, glaring down towards Mechcity. "Well _I'm_ not! Flamey needs us, and _we_ need answers!" He held a fist into the air, turning to his dragon friend. "So I'm going to help her, no matter what GC says! Are you with me?"

Nye didn't hesitate to smile and nod. "I'm with you, Sir Alpha of the heroic speeches! To the very ends of the Terrain itself!"

Alpha grinned. The pair ran off down the path.

 

* * *

 

Her roars echoed throughout Mechcity, player after player logged out of the game as the feral ball of grey fire and leathery wings slashed through them, racing up and down the streets in search of more players to attack. She came to one street corner, blasting through a trio of victims, and stopped to roar, flames spurting from her mouth into the air above.

"Heh," came a voice from her right, and she turned to see a character in black and red, a metal contraption in place of his left arm and spiky blue hair on his head. He grinned at her with spiky teeth. "Now I can tell _you're_ a different story."

The demon growled, and charged at the confident player, but he jumped out of her path, blasting up the wall of the nearby building to look down on her from the roof, red eyes glistening. She didn't waste any time following him up, landing on the flat roof a matter of moments later.

Zetto smiled. "Hey," he greeted the new arrival, who turned her angry face up to glare at him. "Miss me?"

Baring her claws, the possessed character charged at Zetto, who threw up his right arm and summoned a Z-shaped ki blade, holding the demon well away from him with a confident grin. She pushed against the energy blade, only to be thrown back and immediately peppered with bullets from Zetto's machine gun arm.

Zetto couldn't resist his constant smile as he switched his arm to the chain option. Latching on to his friend's foot, he spun around and tossed her bodily into a building across the street. It had been _ages_ since he'd given someone a beatdown on this account, and he'd forgotten how fun it was in all the drama... of course, the facts of who his opponent _was_ were keeping him in check, and he was ready when he saw the ball of flame leaping out of the hole he'd thrown her into, wings flared as she flew straight for him.

The cyborg led the demon on a small chase across the rooftops, stopping only to see if she would take a chance to attack him if given. She did, clawing at him with loud grunts of exertion, but not a single hit landed as Zetto dodged every last one, the wide grin never leaving his face.

 _'My turn!'_ Zetto struck back, slicing at the demon with his ki blade. Flamey suffered the blows with growls and grunts, spitting fire onto the building below, and was stunned enough that she barely reacted when her opponent switched to shooting blue energy shots at her from his mechanical palm. As the shots stopped, she looked up at his smug face with a growl, and sped towards him, jumping over to behind her target and roaring as she summoned her grey shield of fire.

Zetto smiled as he effortlessly leapt away, turning to face her mid-motion. _'Here we go...'_ He held out his mechanical arm, and, with a broad swipe of his hand, threw the projected ball of deadly virus-flame to one side.

The demon gasped widely, unable to understand what had just happened. As Zetto held up his arm again and began to charge his Breaker Beam, Flamey gave one last growl and charged at him, only to come face-first with a truckload of ki energy.

She fell backwards to the streets below.

_**how** _

 

* * *

 

As Zetto followed his beaten friend to the crater she'd formed in the street, he noticed GC had beaten him there. He wasn't going to question it (after all, they weren't supposed to know each other), but it did mean he had to be ultra careful with his words and demeanour.

"What transpired here?" GC asked.

"Oh, this?" Zetto replied nonchalantly. "We were just playing. She lost."

"Lost!?" GC repeated, eyes wide as he turned his gaze to their unconscious friend below.

As Zetto returned his attention to Flamey, he noticed with relief that the dark colouring of her avatar was reverting back to normal, although her headband appeared to have been destroyed either in the fall or by his Breaker Beam. Her eyes flickered open, thankfully back to their normal green-on-white colour, and Zetto plastered his grin on his face as he gave his proclamation. "That was fun, but I suggest you don't try and mess with me like that again. You don't know what you're dealing with. I'll tell you what, though." Flamey's tired eyes met his, and Zetto gestured to the stadium they had conveniently ended up next to. "You see this? When everyone gathers to this stadium, that's the next time we'll play. I trust that's a fair amount of time for you to get better." He turned away, not wanting to drag out this 'goodbye' any longer. "Oh, and I guess while you're at it, find a partner. A _good_ one." He dashed away down the street.

Flamey closed her eyes as she forced herself to sit up. "You bet I will," she whispered.

" _Flamey!_ " came a shout from behind, and the girl turned to look up at the edge of the crater behind her, just as Alpha and Nye came into view. "Flamey, are you- Woah, your hair!" Alpha cried.

"My hair?" Flamey repeated, then noticed the blonde locks of her fringe hanging at the top of her eyeline. In her lap, she found a familiar scrap of red fabric with a flame symbol on it, which she cradled gently in her hands lest it fall apart more than it already had. "Oh," she mumbled to herself.

There was a thud as Alpha jumped down into the crater, rushing to his friend's side. "Are you alright?" he asked. "What happened?"

Flamey jumped to her feet, dropping the remains of her headband as she stepped away from Alpha, holding up her hands to signal he keep back. "Don't-!" she cried. "Stay away from me! I don't want you to get hurt!"

Alpha wilted and reluctantly stayed where he was. "Are you alright?" he asked again.

"There was another user here," GC spoke up. "It seems he kept Flamey from doing too much damage."

Nye smiled in relief. "That was certainly lucky, then!"

Flamey nodded. "I... I can't stay and explain. I barely know what's going on myself." She sighed. "I'm... gonna need some time to cool off, okay?"

"That's fine," Alpha assured her. "Let us know when you're ready to come back though."

"Of course I will," Flamey replied with a small smile. "Seeya then, I suppose." With a flash of light, she was gone.


	6. Uneasy Reunions

**MESSAGE:**   
**Thanks for wanting to check up on me, but I'm fine... or at least better than I have been. I've decided to come back to TOME! Is 2pm your time okay? I'll attach co-ordinates so you can find me. I'll be in ;Mechcity, a couple blocks from the stadium. Let me know if you can't make it.**   
**-Flamey**

 

No sooner had the message been sent, a new one arrived.

 

**MESSAGE:  
I know you refuse to speak to me...but I'm worried about you. You're in grave danger if you continue alone on this path you've set for yourself and don't seek help from those in the know! I urge you to trust me on this. I pray this warning won't come too late.**

 

"Today... oh, today's gonna be a rough one, I've got a feeling."

 

* * *

 

The location Flamey had chosen for her reunion with Alpha was a small, secluded park hidden away in the centre of Mechcity. It was nearly always quiet, a hard-to-find area that few knew about: The perfect place for a private chat with her closest friend.

When she logged in and made her way there, she found she was, to her surprise, not the first to arrive. "Hey, you!"

Alpha jumped, distracted from his idle juggling of his mini-Orion shields, and turned to face Flamey with a wide grin. "Flamey!" he cried, running two steps to greet her before second-guessing himself and staying put with an embarrassed smile. "H-hey!" To his surprise, Flamey had adjusted her outfit since they'd last met, swapping out her bandanna and tank top with a backless shirt. He decided that, paired with her shorter hair and now-missing headband, it suited her a lot.

Flamey smiled, the first genuine one she'd had in days, as she approached her nervous friend. "Thanks for coming," she said. "How've you been?"

"Me?" Alpha asked with a surprised laugh. "I've been fine, how are you? The guys and I have been worried sick!"

"Oh, I'm..." She was about to say 'fine', but stopped herself short, knowing it was not true. She sighed. "Honestly, I've been better. I haven't gotten into any fights with other players, not since... that."

Alpha nodded understandingly. "Hey, wanna sit down?" He gestured to the nearby bench under the requisite tree, whose foliage covered most of the space above the enclosed park.

"Sure," Flamey agreed, and the pair walked over to sit down, Alpha unable to resist watching over his friend in continued worry. "You can stop hovering over me, y'know," she said with a smile as she settled into her seat.

"Y-yeah," Alpha mumbled, tapping the virtual wood of the bench as he perched on it nervously. "Hey, um, about the tournament...?"

Flamey frowned in concern. "What about it? Do you not want to bother with it?"

Alpha shook his head in horror. "N-no, of course I..." He looked away, wincing. "Well, I was gonna ask if _you_ were still gonna sign up, and, if you were..." He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, and spoke very rapidly, "If you're going to, maybe you'd like to partner with me possibly?"

Flamey looked at the still boy next to her for a few moments in silence, then smiled. "Of _course_ we're signing up together," she said. "Why wouldn't we be?"

Alpha relaxed in a visible sigh of relief, opening his eyes finally to give his friend a smile. "I dunno, I just thought you might want to go with one of the others, y'know." He shrugged, the smile fading. "They are better at fighting than me."

"Nonsense," Flamey insisted, hitting Alpha's arm with the back of a hand. " _You're_ the one I want to be my partner, because you're better than you think you are." As Alpha reluctantly nodded, she looked out over the park, although she didn't see it. "That guy who fought me the other day... he challenged me to be at this tournament. To make sure I had a good partner. Whatever it is he wants, he knows something about this... _thing_." She sighed, fighting off the instinctive glare. "Maybe I should be worrying more about if _that_ happens again, but I can't let a chance for answers pass me by. I'm gonna have to risk people's health, or even _lives_ , for this, just to find out if I can even get rid of it or not!"

There was a long moment of silence, Alpha preferring to let his friend talk at her own pace rather than irritate her with his own questions.

"I'm sorry," Flamey finally spoke up again, turning to face her friend with an apologetic smile. "The past few days have been stressful enough already without all of this, and I'm just focussing on myself the whole time."

"It's fine," Alpha insisted with a shake of his head, smiling back. "Nothing's happened with me, anyway. I'm happy just to listen."

Flamey felt a wave of gratitude for her friend that she couldn't put into words. "Thanks," she said. "That really means a lot right now."

"Y'know what?" Alpha replied with a laugh. "No matter how much bad stuff happens here, like, the hackers and the argument with Kirb and... everything... _this_ is why I keep coming back."

There was a whoosh of wind from above, and a red figure with a white and green mask dropped out of the tree above them. Flamey and Alpha only had the time to stand up from their bench before the other user held up a finger and hit Alpha with a lightning bolt, instantly paralysing his character as he fell to the grass with a green tone to his blank eyes.

A chat window opened up by Flamey's head, out of which came Alpha's muffled voice. "What? H-hey! I can't control my character!"

Flamey turned to the new arrival with a glare. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

He scoffed. "Though I'm feeling as under-appreciated as always... Stephanie."

Flamey gasped, her hands to her mouth as she instantly recognised the heavily accented user. A glance at his profile revealed the username he was going by as 'Neomutant'.

"S- _Stephanie_!?" Alpha repeated.

Growling, Flamey threw out a hand at Neomutant, blocking him and revelling in the sight of the red box around his head. "Get out!" she ordered, unsure if he could still hear her through the block function or not. "I don't want to hear it from you! _Go away!_ "

"What's going on?" Alpha asked in her left ear.

Neo seemed unaffected, raising a fist to his face and smashing the block-box apart like it was a tangible element of the game. "Predictable," he said, "and _sad_."

Flamey's scowl only deepened. "I should have guessed. You're just another two-bit hacker!"

"You're quick," Neo admitted with a shrug. "I'm still disappointed that you tossed away my offer, but not as disappointed in your pursuit of ignorance, with your own _and_ others' safety as the cost!"

"Flamey, who _is_ this guy?" Alpha asked from his chat window.

Neo fought back laughter. " _Flamey!?_ Ha!" He threw out a finger again, destroying the chat window and breaking Alpha's only form of communication with them.

Flamey fumed.

"How insulting to think this _child_ is my competition!" Neo bragged.

"There _is_ no competition!" Flamey shouted. "I didn't want anything to do with you, _or_ your stupid mysterious job, and I _still_ don't!"

Neo rested two fingers of one hand on his forehead. "You truly have no idea what you're missing," he grumbled.

Flamey glared, her voice suddenly dropping to a low warning tone. "For someone who claims to be such a genius, you're being _extremely_ dense. What part of 'leave me alone' do you _not understand!?_ "

"You mock me as if I have some kind of ulterior motive," Neo shot back, "but _my_ intentions are as clear as daylight."

Flamey rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"It's true!" Neo insisted. "Everything I have worked towards this past year has been for you! I could have provided for you, taken care of you! It could have just been the two of us!"

Her anger was rising more and more by the second, and Flamey was only barely aware of the presence in the back of her mind starting to rise up. " _Enough!_ " she shouted, holding out a firey finger ready to activate her Flame Bullet attack, beginning to shake as wisps of grey flame began to emanate from her body. "What I do is _none_ of your business, and I don't care _what_ your stupid employer wants with me! _Back off!_ "

Neo looked her dead in the eyes. "I'm afraid I can't do that," he said, almost sounding apologetic, "because that's why I'm here."

Flamey suddenly cried in pain as the grey flames spiked up and surrounded her, hiding her from view as her startled scream became heavy growls. It only a took a moment before the demon was once again free, glaring at Neo with dark, red eyes as wisps of flame danced around her sharp scowl.

Neo jumped back, fists ready for battle. "I told you you'd regret ignoring my warning," he muttered, more to himself than to the creature before him. "First things first, though." As the possessed Flamey made a lunge at him, he jumped to one side, shooting a second lightning bolt at Alpha that instantly undid his paralysis, the winged boy flailing on the ground for a moment before registering he was once again able to move his character. Neo was meanwhile fighting back against Flamey's attacks, shooting more lightning bolts at her that were just deflected by her shield of grey flame.

"Flamey!" Alpha cried as he registered the situation he had been returned to, and he jumped to his feet.

Neo barely dodged more of Flamey's rushing attacks, activating his Thunder Charge ability to power up another lightning bolt, then summoning six balls of electricity that he shot at Flamey one after another, hitting her like cannonballs. Flamey roared a burst of fire, raising a clawed hand and slashing down with immense power into the grass, causing a bright flash of light that forced all three to avert their eyes for a few moments. When they were again able to look, they saw a massive ravine right down the centre of the small park.

Alpha gasped in shock, then balled his hands into fists and stood his ground. " _This_ time," he told himself, " _I'm_ gonna be the one to save _you_!"


	7. Demon's Run

Neomutant stood in the centre of the small Mechcity park, staring at the possessed Flamey in fear. "You're not human...!" Before he could elaborate, the demon across from him seemingly teleported across the new ravine and punched Neo back against the wall of the building behind him. He was in too much pain to get up, watching helplessly as the growling, winged user slowly approached, swinging side to side almost like a zombie. At the last possible moment, blue fabric blocked Neo's view, and he looked up in surprise to see Alpha standing before him, facing down the demon.

"Maybe I should have warned _you_ off," Neo managed to say as he sat up, "instead of _her_."

Alpha shot the red-suited user a glare. "Whatever you say, I _know_ Flamey is still in there, and she has no control over what this thing is doing in her place! If you were really her friend, you wouldn't need to be told that!"

Flamey suddenly roared and jumped into the air.

"Look out!" Neo shouted, but Alpha was already prepared, and he threw up his arms to summon his Orion Shield. Flamey crashed into it with a cry, immediately slashing at the barrier with her claws, her fiery breath reflecting off the shield with every loud grunt.

"Quick!" Alpha cried to the prone user behind him. "Move before she breaks thr-!" With a crash, the Orion Shield disintegrated. Alpha barely had the time to gasp before Flamey leapt at him with a triumphant shriek, slashing at his character with her long claws. Alpha winced in anticipation of the pain he'd seen Speedpaint, Kirb and even Neo suffer, but instead, the moment Flamey made contact with him, her hand erupted in purple sparks and she jumped back with a pained cry, nursing the affected limb. Alpha stood where he'd been previously cowering, confused. "What the...?"

Neo sighed to himself behind his mask. His mission was, officially, taken care of. Bypassing the puzzled Alpha, he made another leap for Flamey, who looked up at him with a growl, and activated her grey shield. Unwilling to face that pain again, Neo tried to sidestep it, but Flamey kept spinning to face him, arms held up ready to hit him with it if he got too close. He'd done a full one-eighty around her before realising it was time for a change of tactics, so he stopped and held up his fists, safe on the other side of the new ravine the demon had created. Flamey seemed to recognise his plans and dropped her shield, and they made a jump for each other at the same time, Neo powering up an electric burst while Flamey held out her claws. They collided in mid-air above the ravine, and it was Flamey who struck first, Neo crying in pain as his momentum carried him towards the grass below.

Having gotten over his shock, Alpha ran forward and threw out his hand, hitting the demon with his Zeus Rage attack. Although he was glad to have met his mark, he wasn't happy to see Flamey flailing as the yellow sparks covered her, and she disappeared into the ravine.

Neo hit the ground with a grunt, and looked up to see Alpha running to his side with a look somewhere between concerned and suspicious. "If you were smart," he managed to say through his pain, "you'd be leaving right now."

Alpha shook his head. "I don't know you, but I know Flamey doesn't like you, even without this _thing_ that's ruining the game for us." He summoned a trio of mini-Orion Shields to his hand. "You're the one who's hurt. I should be saying to you what you just said to me."

Neo felt the ground rumbling and gasped. "She's coming back!"

As Alpha looked up, he saw the demon jump into the air, free of the electricity, and float there menacingly. She opened her eyes and glared down at him, her grey fire slowly reforming around her. He turned back to Neo, holding his shields ready. "I'm telling you this on behalf of Flamey: _Leave us alone_. For your own good if not for hers!"

Smiling behind his mask, Neo closed his eyes. "It's in your hands now," he agreed. A moment later, Alpha's thrown shields had painlessly logged him out of the game, leaving the winged boy alone with his possessed friend.

Instantly, Flamey reacted, jolting in the air and turning her face to the sky as she again roared in pain, the grey fire expanding around her in bursts. Alpha cowered and watched as the fire shot past him, his friend within slowly lowering to the ground. The bursts died down and Flamey hit the ground again, her pupils now totally gone to leave her eyes a blank red sheen. She lunged at Alpha, who jumped back and dodged her swipes, shooting a wave of water that knocked her back before landing a punch on her face that again seemed to activate the strange purple sparks. Flamey was thrown back, briefly covered in the oddly-coloured electricity, and shouted in pain before seeming to fall limp, dropping to her knees.

Alpha watched his friend for a few moments. He had no idea what to do, but _something_ he was doing seemed to be able to fend off whatever had his friend so helpless.

Suddenly Flamey was tugged off the ground like a marionette, again floating in the air with her arms held out to her sides. She was grunting in pain, and it was clear she was unable to move, wisps of flame dancing around her.

Taking a deep breath, Alpha held a hand to his heart and began to approach her. As he got within a couple of steps, the grey fire suddenly burst out around Flamey, encompassing them both in less than a second. Alpha gasped in surprise, but found he was unharmed by it, and in fact seemed to be glowing the same purple colour as the odd electricity, which was starting to dance around him. He nodded in determination, then covered the final few steps to Flamey's side, gripping her shoulders as she floated just above him.

_**something has changed** _

The purple electricity sparked to life, dancing around the pair as it fought off the grey fire surrounding them, returning Flamey's colours to normal. Flamey found her sight slowly returning to her, and the first thing she saw was Alpha's concerned face, eyes glowing purple as the healing electricity emanated from his avatar.

**_i feel weak_ **

The fire died, leaving the two of them stood in the damaged park, Alpha's hands resting on Flamey's shoulders. She opened her eyes again with a gasp. "Did I-!?"

Alpha shrugged with a shy grin. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

Flamey bit her lip as a million emotions ran through her mind, and she lunged forward to grip Alpha in a tight hug. Although surprised, the boy was quick to return it with a comforting smile.

_"By the way... mine's Michael."_

 

* * *

 

"Seeya!" Alpha called as Flamey walked off down the street to find her other friends. It had taken longer than he'd thought to sign up for the Tournament, but at least now it was official and, once Flamey was ready, they'd be getting straight into practise. With a content smile, he turned and began to walk down the street in front of the Balan Stadium, mind racing with thoughts of how far he and Flamey might get with their combined skills. It took him longer than it should have to recognise the voice ahead of him calling a greeting.

"H-hey... hey, man."

"Kirb?" Alpha gasped, looking up. "Kirb! Oh my god, you're alright!"

"Y-yeah," Kirb replied quietly. "I am. I, uh, didn't worry you or anything, did I?"

Alpha wasn't sure whether to nod or shake his head. "Of course! We didn't know where you _went_ after the whole incident... augh, I'm so sorry! Nylocke said you were wanting to talk with me and Stephanie, -"

"Dude?"

"- I mean, she just left, but I'm sure she'd be glad to hear-"

"Dude!" Kirb's frustrated cry stopped Alpha in his tracks and he closed his mouth in shock. "Don't... mean to interrupt but I was wanting to talk about-" The swordsman paused, looking confused. "Wait, who's Stephanie?"

"F-Flamey," Alpha hurriedly corrected himself. "I registered with Flamey for the tournament, like, just... now." He shrunk back, realising what it was Kirb had probably wanted to discuss. "I had no idea if you even wanted to partner up. I mean, uh, I dunno, i-if you wanted to, but like-"

Kirb waved his hands, looking away. "It's... it's fine, don't worry about it. I'll... figure something else out."

Alpha felt a wave of guilt wash over him. "So, are you going to be okay?" he timidly asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Kirb suddenly shot back with a confident glare. "This means I get to _kick your ass_! _And_ hers! In front of everyone! Hell, I _prefer_ it this way!" He laughed, but it was clear it was faked, and his false confidence died as he turned away from Alpha, fists clenched. "It's... whatever. It's fine."

"O-okay," Alpha replied, unsure how else to react.

Kirb took in a deep breath. "I'm gonna... I'm gonna go. Cool."

Alpha nodded, wishing there was something he could do for his friend. "Bye."

"Bye," Kirb replied quietly, then turned and walked away.

Fighting off tears, Alpha logged off.


	8. All That Matters...

They watched in horror as Zetto's Breaker Beam destroyed Kirbopher in one shot, logging him off without even the hint of a fight from their friend.

"My word," Nye breathed in shock.

"K-Kirb..." Alpha cried sorrowfully.

Flamey glared, and made a break for it, running down the hallway at top speed. She heard Alpha cry "Wait!" behind her and follow, but she didn't slow down for him, running until she reached the front row of the stadium, an area reserved for the contestants only, just as the commentators finished awkwardly covering Kirb's loss. She stood somewhere she knew Zetto could see her and glared firmly at the back of his head. As she watched, he turned to look down on her and smiled.

Almost immediately, the stadium began to fill with smoke. Flamey shot a confused glance to Alpha at her side, and noticed Nye and GC had similarly followed her down. The commentators were talking again, trying to assure their audience the problem would be quickly solved, but all the while the smoke was getting thicker and thicker.

It was as Flamey realised she could barely see her hand in front of her face that she heard a voice speaking into the back of her ear.

"Hey, kid. You really wanna know the truth about the Forbidden Power?"

Flamey looked behind her, but the smoke was too thick to see anything more than a vague silhouette of the speaker as they walked off out of the stadium seating.

"I suggest you follow me."

The girl didn't hesitate, unwilling to lose the strange figure in the fog, and ran after her into the halls behind them, leaving her friends behind. Although the smoke was a lot thinner here, the rabbit-eared user was far enough ahead of her that Flamey had trouble keeping up, making turn after turn until finally she found herself face-to-face with Dustbunny in a dark and empty hallway.

"Alright then," Flamey began, giving the woman her most suspicious glare. "You claim to know what the 'Forbidden Power' is. Are you planning to share?"

Dustbunny smirked. "Of course I know what it is. I know all about how it's affected you, and the people you care about."

"Really," Flamey stated more than asked. When Dustbunny simply stood and didn't elaborate, she added, "Well? What else?"

Spawning a small knife in her hand, Dustbunny went on the offensive, tossing the knife in the younger girl's direction. Flamey dodged the knife, tossing a fireball from her finger in retaliation, but her opponent had already disappeared in a burst of smoke, and Flamey barely had the time to react before her character was literally stabbed in the back as Dustbunny reappeared behind her. She spun around to try and hit the rabbit-eared woman with an Angry Burst, but she backflipped away, the hallway around them filling with thick smoke.

"What the hell is this about!?" Flamey demanded, fists held at her sides. "If you're not going to tell me about this _thing_ , why'd you drag me back here?" She held out a finger, readying another Fiery Bullet, but Dustbunny only giggled.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the rabbit-woman advised. "Any of your fire attacks hit my smoke, this whole place goes up in flames." She crossed her arms with a grin. "You don't want that to happen, do you?"

Reluctantly, Flamey lowered her finger and resolved to keep to physical attacks for now. "Alright then," she agreed, "but you still haven't told me anything about the Forbidden Power, and I'm starting to think you don't know anything more about it than I do."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Dustbunny said with a shrug. "If you give me an example of it, you might just find out one way or another."

"Over my dead body!" Flamey retorted, and she dashed at Dustbunny, who again teleported behind her with her smoke and stabbed her in the back, blowing more thick fog to surround the smaller girl and hold her, paralysed, in the thick virtual air. She fought fruitlessly against it for several seconds until a trio of knives hit her in the back and the smoke dropped her character to the ground.

"I'm _waiting!_ " Dustbunny taunted. "Or maybe you left your backbone back with your _boyfriend_."

At that, Flamey lost her temper, and gladly summoned the grey and yellow flames to surround her body. Getting up and turning on the older woman, she growled "Fine! Keep in mind though, _you asked for it._ " She built the flames up as big as she dared given the small space, then threw up her hands to release it all in Dustbunny's direction, unnoticing of the asterisk-shaped shield the hacker had pulled from her inventory...

 

* * *

 

As the smoke cleared from the stadium arena, Alpha looked up in shock as an angelic, limbless figure floated down in front of Zetto and Kizuna. The character design seemed vaguely familiar from somewhere, although the boy couldn't place exactly why.

"The Webmaster," GC filled in from Alpha's right, and he looked over to his friend in surprise as his silent questions were answered. "System administrator and creator of TOME. This is your first time seeing him."

Alpha nodded. "Y-yeah," he answered, despite GC's question being more a statement than anything else. Now he thought about it, he had seen a stained glass window of Webmaster in the mansion in Lavendera. _'I was wondering what that was...'_

"A sight to behold," Nye agreed. "He certainly takes care of business in a rather _showy_ manner. _Too_ showy. For I, _NYLOCKE! Slightly Jealous Dragon of Masters of the Web with Dramatic Entrances!_ cannot compete with such a level of authority as that!"

Alpha turned to Flamey to see what she thought, and was surprised to find only empty seating on his left side. "F-Flamey?" he called, and hurriedly turned back to his other friends. "Did you guys see where Flamey went?"

The pair looked as surprised as Alpha to hear she was missing. "What ho?" Nye cried. "She's vanished!"

"I last saw her right before the smoke covered the stadium!" Alpha explained, then groaned to himself. "Oh, what happened to her?"

"This is indeed bad," Nye said with a solemn frown. "If she is not reunited with you as her partner in time for your next match, you'll have to face that hazardous pair alone!" He shook his head sadly. "Just as the hopeless Squire did..."

"I'm fairly certain she's still located within the Stadium halls," GC assured him.

Alpha nodded, noting to himself he would have to find her alone with Nye and GC's match about to start at any second. "Right. Well, I'd better go find her." He turned and ran down the nearest hallway. "I'll be back as soon as I can!"

"Hurry now!" Nye called after him.

Alpha was surprised to find there was still a small trail of smoke down the corridors hidden under the stadium seating. _'What do they even want with her?'_ he wondered to himself as he followed the faint trail. _'Whatever it is, it can't be good.'_ He made turn after turn, until suddenly a red figure jumped in his path, holding out his massive arms to physically block Alpha from the wall of smoke behind him.

"Stop!" Neomutant cried. "Don't take another step!"

Alpha gasped as he recognised the hacker. "You!" he cried. "Didn't we already tell you to _go away?_ "

Neo narrowed his eyes as his posture relaxed somewhat. "I will warn you before you try anything, a fire or electric attack will set off the smoke in the room and kill us all in a giant fireball." He softly laughed to himself. "I don't think any of us want that."

Frowning, Alpha reluctantly nodded. "Agreed," he said. "But will you at least tell me what this is about? Are you trying some underhanded tactic to eliminate us from the Tournament or something?"

Neo scoffed. "I don't care a fig about this Tournament," he explained, shaking his head. "If I did, do you think I really would have eliminated myself first?"

Alpha had to agree he had a point there. "Alright, so what do you want?"

"We both care about Stephanie... 'Flamegirl'," the red-suited hacker explained. "I'm afraid it's rather imperative to her safety that we stay out of the way for now."

"What!?" Alpha cried in disbelief.

"Even now, you do have a part to play," Neo continued, "but it is not yet the time. You must be patient and wait here."

Alpha couldn't believe this... _wouldn't_ believe it. " _Wait here!?_ I'm not going to stand by when Flamey needs me! I have no reason to trust you, and every reason _not_ to!" He threw a punch at Neo that was quickly blocked, and the two pushed against each other for several moments before Neo was distracted by a buzzing sound behind him, and Alpha was able to slip past.

Dashing through the smoke, Alpha found himself emerging into a horrible scene. Dustbunny stood with her back to him, wielding Asterob's shield, while Flamey was on her knees, paralysed and seemingly struggling to even breathe. Alpha summoned a trio of Orion Shields to his hand and stood his ground. "Hey!" he called, attracting Dustbunny's attention.

Dustbunny turned her head and scowled as more smoke began to emanate from her. "I guess the masked moron is worse at his job than I thought."

"Get away from her!" Alpha ordered. "I won't hesitate to set this stadium alight if you force my hand!"

"M-Michael!" Flamey managed to gasp. "Help...!"

The shield in Dustbunny's hand flickered and floated out of her grip, the static fire exploding out of it just as the unlucky hacker dove out of the way. In a moment, the grey flames had escaped their containment and leapt back to Flamey, roaring so thick around her that she wasn't visible from within the storm.

"What did you do!?" Neo accused Dustbunny as he arrived behind Alpha.

"I did what we were s'posed to do!" Dustbunny retorted. "The stupid thing didn't work!"

Neo groaned to himself. "Why they thought the shield would be strong enough to hold it is beyond me!"

Alpha closed his eyes a moment to collect himself. "Stand back," he said, holding out a hand to the pair as he slowly approached his friend. "This part only I can handle." As he reached the edge of the wild fire-storm, his avatar again glowed a brilliant purple, surrounded in the sparks of his mysterious power. Thus armed, he entered the static-y fire, quickly locating Flamey, again hovering in the air like a limp puppet. Just like last time, he gripped his friend and gently pulled her back down to the ground, the sparks dancing around them both as the grey fire surrounding them slowly died off. Flamey was still panting from her ordeal, so Alpha helped her to a kneeling position on the ground as the grey fire and purple electricity both faded away. "It's okay," he assured her. "You're alright."

Flamey nodded as she rested her character on the floor of the hallway. "I know," she said, giving Alpha the best smile she could manage as the pain of her ordeal faded away.

Behind Alpha, the pair noticed the hackers and their smoke had gone, replaced by the solitary figure of Zetto. He carried Asterob's shield and sternly walked past the two users sat on the floor. "I'll return this to its proper owner," he said.

"Wait!" Flamey called, reaching out a hand to the blue-haired figure as he stopped in his tracks, still facing away from them. "Do you know anything about the For-?"

"Check your personal problems at the door," Zetto replied, a hint of frustration in his voice as his head only slightly turned in their direction. "This isn't the place for it." He paused only a fraction of a second. "Just make sure the two of you aren't late." He resumed his walk back out towards the arena, disappearing into the distance. "That's all that matters."

Flamey and Alpha looked at each other sadly. "Can you move your character?" Alpha asked.

"Yeah," Flamey answered, nodding as she pulled her avatar to her feet. "Let's get out there before our match starts." She turned to follow Zetto, but Alpha stopped her, grabbing her arm.

"We don't have to fight if you can't manage it," the boy said, worry in his face. "That jerk doesn't deserve to-"

"I'm fine," Flamey interrupted. "I promise." As Alpha wilted timidly, she patted his shoulder with an encouraging smile. "Don't worry. I'm at my best when you're at my side."

Alpha blushed, and the pair made their way to the arena to find their friends.


	9. ... Is What We Want

Flamey led Alpha to the arena, where they had been called by the announcers. Zetto and Kizuna were waiting there already, and Flamey levelled a stern stare at them as she stood on the tiled floor.

Alpha gave her a worried look. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Flamey replied, turning to her partner to give him a smile. "I guess this Zetto guy isn't going to answer my questions after all. He wants something from me, but if he's not going to be upfront with us, then..." She shrugged. "No use worrying about him."

"Oh?" Alpha said curiously. "What are we going to do then?"

Flamey grinned. "What else? Whatever we want."

Alpha giggled. "That wasn't already the plan?" he joked. Flamey laughed with him.

Foreva suddenly sprung to life as she finally noticed the new arrivals to the arena. "Alright folks, get psyched because the semi-finals are now officially under way! Zetto and Kizuna versus Alpha and Flamegirl!" The battlegrid formed around the arena. "Let the cataclysmic clash commence!"

The two teams did not immediately react, staring each other down as they waited for someone to make the first move. Zetto narrowed his eyes in Flamey's direction. "Well?" he asked.

Flamey raised an eyebrow. "Well what?"

" _Well,_ " Zetto replied, "I hope I'm not going to be sorely disappointed."

Grinning, Flamey raised her fists. "I'll do my best," she said in her best cheeky tone.

Zetto glared for a fraction of a second before erupting into movement, leaping across the arena in Flamey's direction. Flamey registered Alpha making a similar dash for Kizuna out of the corner of her eye as she fired up her Angry Burst, charging into Zetto head on and slamming them into a stalemate between the fireball and the sphere of blue ki energy. Zetto was the first to break it, backflipping away from Flamey before firing his chain at her arm. As it locked into place, Flamey used the pressure on her hand to shoot several fire bullets in her opponent's direction, her aim almost perfect thanks to the chain pointing her in the right direction. Zetto just avoided the attack by jumping into the air, releasing her arm and charging at her again, his ki-blade glowing brightly as it formed on his right arm. Knowing she was unlikely to make much of a match for him physically, Flamey ran under him, spinning around to shoot more fire bullets at his back.

Behind her, Flamey heard the sound of Kizuna's gun firing, immediately followed by a shocked cry from Alpha. Although Zetto was firing up his machine gun, she abandoned her assault on him, turning to locate Alpha prone on the floor, hand over a virtual bullet wound in his left arm. She ran to his side, a hand on his shoulder. "You alright?"

Alpha nodded, rubbing his arm as the virtual wound sparked, keeping him out of the fight. "Didn't know a single hit could take off so much health," he explained.

Flamey looked around and noticed their distraction had seemingly lost them the match already, both Zetto and Kizuna on either side with their guns levelled in Alpha and Flamey's direction.

Zetto smirked. "So far you've done nothing but embarrass yourself," he called, his smile turning into an irritated frown. "I know you've got more than this."

"Maybe," Flamey replied, standing up to face Zetto properly and plastering her toughest smile on her face, "but I don't need anything more than my run-of-the-mill fire spells." She glanced at the mechanical attachment to her opponent's left arm. "At least mine are _legal_."

Glaring in wide-eyed anger, Zetto emptied his machine-gun attachment into Flamey's character, causing her plenty of damage, but not enough to knock her out of the match. Despite the multiple new holes in her torso, Flamey continued to smile, giggling to herself as Zetto stared at her in shock.

"You seriously need to stop taking this game so personally," Flamey said.

"And _you_ seriously need to stop screwing around and show me the real deal!" Zetto growled.

Flamey heard a bang behind her, a well-timed bullet from Kizuna hitting her in the back of the neck and sending her character to the floor. Although surprised by the action, Flamey was still able to smile up at Alpha as she lay there.

"Giving up already?" Alpha asked with a wink.

"Not yet," Flamey whispered, holding out her hand to her friend. "We got one last shot." Alpha took the offered hand with a nod, and two of them closed their eyes as they charged up their team attack.

Zetto's voice got louder, and Flamey realised he had probably moved closer to them. "Ask yourself, what was the point of going through all this? Did you think it was a _joke_? Why did you even bother with this nonsense in the first place?"

Flamey couldn't help but smile as she registered the anger in Zetto's tone, and how true her comment about him taking the game so personally was. "Because," she answered with a laugh, "it's fun."

The Vulcan Rocket finished charging, and Flamey and Alpha careened into the air in a ball of fire, heading straight towards TOME's sun above before turning and aiming for the arena below. Flamey wasn't the least surprised when a blue beam of energy took them out before they reached their destination.

For them, the Gemini Tournament was over.

 

* * *

 

Flamey logged back in and arrived at the open gates of the Balan Stadium. From here, she could hear the roaring of the crowds within, and almost see the giant screens displaying the ongoing match of Nye and GC against Sniperwheel and Asterob. She wondered if it was worth it going back in to watch their friends, or if she'd be better off logging out and watching a stream. After all, Kirb hadn't returned after _his_ loss, so it wasn't like her other friends would be expecting her and Alpha to return to the arena.

"Hey, Stephanie!"

Flamey heard Alpha's call, and she turned to see him walking towards her with a smile, having just logged in himself. "Michael!" she replied, giving him a wave. She gestured to the stadium. "What do you think?" she asked. "Go back in to cheer on Nye and GC, or watch the stream?"

Reaching Flamey's side, Alpha frowned in thought, looking through into the stadium square, full of users chatting as they hovered around the frequent screens showing the action within. "I don't know if we'd even be _able_ to get back in through all that," he admitted. "As much as I want to cheer Nye and GC on."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Flamey agreed with a frown.

"Plus," Alpha continued with a shy smile, "I'd love to spend some more time with you before logging off again."

Flamey looked over in surprise, and gave her friend a warm smile. "Y'know, me too," she said, taking Alpha's hand. "Let's go wait somewhere for all the tournament fuss to blow over."

Alpha nodded, and the pair walked off down the street, hand in hand.

 

* * *

 

Kirb sat in the clearing of Lavendera where he and his friends had defeated Rockoon and the corrupted idol. The memories of the talk he and his four best friends had had on this spot, and the hug they'd shared at the end of it all, made him feel like he was close to them here, even though in reality they were dotted all over both TOME and the real world outside it. It helped him forget the argument he and Flamey had had, and how Alpha had tried so hard to calm them down before Flamey's anger triggered the virus within her.

_"I think it's time you stopped beating around the bush."_

Kizuna's words rang in his head. Maybe she was right. They couldn't rely on the antivirus they'd put on Alpha to keep the virus in Flamey under control forever. Yes, the two spent a lot of time together, but a day was going to come when Flamey lost control and Alpha wasn't around to help her.

 _"I've had it up to HERE with your socially awkward antics! In case you weren't aware, we are_ not _living in 'ye old England' you overbearing TWIT!"_

And then, of course, there was the fact that the stress of the whole thing was starting to get to him. He was losing control of himself.

_"Oh what the hell, NOW you agree?"_

_"Not my fault it's better when he does it!"_

_"BullCRAP. You're so freaking shallow, you're like his little cheerleader now!"_

He was pushing his friends away, one at a time. First Flamey, and Alpha with her.

 _"_ Me!? _You're the one practically_ jumping his balls _every time he logs on!"_

_"Yeah, YOU'VE got some balls. Y'know I bet you're like forty in real life? Cougar."_

_"Augh! Y'know what, you are such a little_ prick _! I don't even know why you hang out with us in the first place if we_ annoy _you so goddamn much!"_

Then Nylocke.

 _"And your ridiculous coping mechanism for interacting with others isn't_ cute _, it's_ insanity _, it's_ annoying _, YOU'RE ANNOYING!"_

Then there was the very real possibility Gamecrazed had seen right through his disguise.

 _"I am_ not _having a good time."_

 _"What do_ you _have to be upset about?"_

No virtual trophy for proving he was the strongest in TOME could cheer him up about that.

 _"Hear me! Thou must learn to lighten up a little. Nay, lighten up_ a lot! _Lighten up as bright and beautiful as the array of colours I have bestowed upon the audience of this fair tournament!"_

He was still mad Nye and GC had thrown the final match. But, then again...

_"This is a game. Play it well. Play it not as an outlet for your rage, but treat it as though it were a dear friend that you'd give the utmost respect."_

... he had to admit Nye had a point hidden in all that bluster.

A PM window popped up in Kirb's face.

**TO: Kirbopher - FROM: Flamegirl**   
**> Hey, missed you after the**   
**tournament! We're going to bed**   
**now, but you wanna hang out**   
**tomorrow in :lavendera?**

Kirb sighed. He hit reply.

**TO: Flamegirl - FROM: Kirbopher**   
**> Sure. Gimme a time and place,**   
**I'll seeya there.**


	10. Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay in uploading! I was distracted by various family birthdays and, of course, Christmas and New Year. BUT, writing is now complete, so expect to see this story finished over the next few days!

The virtual sun shone brightly down on Lavendera that morning, as it did every day at that time. Through the wastelands, three figures walked together on a path towards the woods.

"Ahh, 'tis a glorious day indeed! I'm feeling quite rejuvenated, and positively bursting with, _ahh_ , positivity!"

Alpha giggled. "That's good to hear! Especially since you threw that final match of the tournament yesterday!" He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "Y-y'know, not... in a bad way or anything. It was pretty awesome to watch."

Nye gave his nervous friend a grin. "Why, thank you, Sir Alpha! You two fared quite well yourselves in your own final confrontation."

"Yeah, I guess," Alpha answered with a shy smile. "It was nothin', really." He looked ahead to Flamey, walking at the head of their small group. "Right, Flamey?"

Flamey nodded, distractedly. "Yeah. It was great."

"Aren't thou excited, Lady Flamegirl?" Nye asked.

She only ignored the question. "We're almost there."

Alpha and Nye's smiles died as they watched their friend with concern. The trio were passing through a crowd of other players on their way to the woods beyond, and it was impossible not to see the suspicious stares and hear the terrible gossip that sprung up among those close by.

"It's those guys from the tournament!"

"Yeah, I know! Wait, that blonde chick up in the front..."

"She's the one with that weird attack!"

Alpha closed his eyes and pretended not to hear them, speeding up a little to be closer to Flamey. Nye also drew closer to his friends to try and provide comfort.

"No, guys! Stay away from her! I heard she can hurt people through the game!"

"Oh, _that's_ who she is? Geeze..."

"Ugh, what a freakshow. Isn't that cheating?"

"Somebody oughta report her!"

As the three friends finally emerged from the crowd, Flamey sighed. "Assholes," she muttered to herself. "They have no idea what they're talking about."

"I-ignore them," Alpha said, clutching one arm and staring at the ground. "Like you said, they're just ignorant."

"Yeah," Flamey replied with a nod, sounding tired. "I know. It doesn't matter."

Nye watched them worriedly, unsure what he could do to help them.

It only took a minute to walk to Lavendera's woods, and the three quickly entered a small clearing, where GC and Kirb were waiting for them. GC spotted them first, and Kirb jumped visibly as he turned to face them, having been talking to GC beforehand.

"Greetings, Squire!" Nye called with a wave and a wide grin. "A merry afternoon to you as well, Sir Gamecrazed!"

GC nodded. "Likewise."

Kirb smiled nervously, giving them a small wave. "H-hey!"

"Hey, Kirb!" Alpha replied, trying not to look as nervous as he felt. "How've you been?"

"Not bad," Kirb said with a shrug, relieved to see he wasn't the only one still feeling awkward about what had happened. "So, congrats to you guys for being semi-finalists! I watched the stream after I left so I could see how the rest of it played out." Almost immediately he mentally kicked himself for being too obvious with his excuse. "I was, uh, I was impressed!"

Flamey smiled. "Thanks," she replied. "It means a lot."

"Although," Alpha picked up sadly, "we wish you coulda been there for the rest of it."

Kirb tried not to obviously wince, laughing nervously. "Yeah, that wasn't gonna happen," he rapidly muttered under his breath, "but I'm glad you guys got the recognition you deserv-"

GC suddenly held up his arm-blade, glaring into the trees where their three friends had come from, and Flamey sighed as she realised instantly what the problem was. "Not the kind of recognition I wanted, though."

Nye and Kirb pulled out their swords while the five turned to face the small crowd emerging from the trees all around them.

"We're surrounded," GC pointed out.

After a short pause to wise up the opposing group, the battle began. Kirb and GC expertly took care of the users behind them, allowing Alpha, Flamey and Nye to concentrate on the ones in front. While Alpha and Nye took on surrounding players with their Vulcan Fist and sword respectively, Flamey activated her Rocket Burn attack and landed on a lone player in front of her, logging them out instantly, but stood up to find herself face-to-face with three of the attackers. One of them, a familiar-looking snake-man, grinned. "C'mon girly, where's your little magic trick?"

Another, a blue fighter covered in bandages, cried "Yeah, let's see it! Or is it just a load o' BS?"

The last, a bee-girl hovering just above the ground, leaned in conspiratorially to her comrades, but made no effort to hide her words from the girl before them. "I bet she's just using the rumour to make herself more popular! There's no 'Forbidden Power'! It's all fake!"

Flamey struggled not to lose her temper, waiting for the bee-girl to start charging up an attack before coating herself in flames and running at them, logging off the snake and fighter before turning on the bee with fireballs shot from her finger. The trio were gone, and she glanced behind her to see that the rest of their group were gone too, taken care of by her friends.

Before anyone could even sigh in relief that they were once again alone, a blue figure stepped out of the shadowy woods with a growl. "I know it's no lie!" Purple eyes shone from inside his hood, the only opening in the pointed robes that covered Thorment's avatar. "You've been fending off so many hackers with it for so long, **how can it be _just_ a rumour**?"

Nye shivered at the creepy tone in the newcomer's voice. "What a peculiar fellow," he muttered.

Alpha nodded in agreement. "Is he roleplaying or...?"

Flamey just frowned. "I don't care how curious you are. Leave me and my friends alone."

"Is that a threat?" Thorment asked.

"It's a _demand,_ " Flamey shot back. "I'm not giving you what you want, so get lost."

The cloaked figure looked offended. " _I'm_ making the demands here! Now what do I have to do to get a glimpse of the Forbidden Power **for myself**?"

"Nothing," Flamey answered calmly. "You're wasting your time."

"Y-yeah!" Alpha chimed in, anger on behalf of his friend giving him the confidence to speak up. "You don't want all five of us having to fight you off, do you?"

Instead of replying, Thorment threw out his arms, tossing multiple balls of green light at Flamey's friends that paralysed their characters momentarily. Taking advantage of the distraction, he unfolded massive bat-like wings not unlike Flamey's own, and jumped into the air to divebomb his chosen target. "Show it to me! The world needs to know!"

Coating herself in fire, Flamey jumped up to meet him in mid-air, already knowing how she was going to take him out as quickly as possible. At the back of her mind, she felt a familiar static whispering, but she pushed it aside, slamming into Thorment and setting him alight before kicking him towards the ground.

"There will be others!" Thorment warned as he fell. "I know I'm not the _only_ one who's interested!" He hit the ground with a small explosion and was finally gone.

Flamey landed back on the ground, glaring at the spot in the grass where Thorment had disappeared. Behind her, free of the paralysing orbs, Nye laughed. "Haha! I expected nothing less from Lady Flamegirl but a one-turn kill!"

Alpha frowned in concern. "Flamey? Are you okay?"

"I'm just thinking," Flamey sighed, keeping her face turned away from her friends. "Is this just gonna follow me everywhere I go, until we take care of it for good?"

GC glanced at Kirb, who was watching Flamey and Alpha with wide eyes.

"Hey," Alpha replied, walking up to his friend but stopping short of placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It might as well be gone! You've got control over it now, right? Ignore those guys, they're just idiots looking for attention."

Flamey shook her head. "It's not just them," she said, raising a hand and staring at it as she pushed the static whispers of the Forbidden Power out of her mind yet again. "It feels different now... I can't say how, but..." She groaned in tired frustration. "I haven't used it since the tournament, but I can always hear it, _lingering_ in the back of my mind! It doesn't go away! I can't stand it!" She barely registered Alpha stepping forward to hug her from behind, too busy concentrating on holding back tears of combined exhaustion and frustration. "I just want this _thing_ gone, and to never have to think about it again!"

"Hey, it's alright," Alpha comforted her, softly speaking in her ear. "We're your friends, and we'll always be here for you."

"Sir Alpha speaks the truth!" Nye cried, hands on his hips. "We shall overcome every obstacle as an unbeatable team!"

GC nodded in agreement. "Hm."

Flamey smiled gratefully, turning her head to face Alpha's. "Thanks, guys," she whispered.

Kirb put his sword away, trying not to look guilty. It seemed that it was time he stopped beating around the bush.


	11. Tables Turned

**MESSAGE:  
Zetto has contacted me. He wants me to meet** **him in the stadium at 5am tomorrow. Will you** **come and help me confront him? I'll be** **outside the gates.**  
 **-Flamey**

 

With a flash of light, Alpha arrived at the entrance of the Balan Stadium. He was still tired from waking up so early, and rubbed at his eyes even though it wouldn't do anything in-game. After receiving Flamey's message last night, he'd barely been able to sleep, and almost slept through the alarm he'd set up. He could only hope he hadn't woken his parents before managing to log on.

It took only a second for the teen to see his friends standing by the gate, and he walked up to them with a small wave. "Hey," he called.

Flamey and Nye returned the nervous greetings. "Glad you could make it," Flamey said, her voice quiet.

Alpha nodded. "Are Kirb and GC...?"

Nye shook his head. "Sir Gamecrazed has opted to stay out of this conflict for personal reasons he did not wish to divulge." He sighed. "As for the Squire... I had no luck in contacting him."

"Me neither," Alpha admitted, clutching his arms. "I sent him _five_ PMs last night, and he _still_ hasn't replied! He _must_ 've seen them by now!"

Flamey rested a hand on Alpha's shoulder. "It's fine," she said. "I didn't think Kirb was likely to help anyway. We shouldn't hold it against him. This could be dangerous, after all." Alpha nodded in agreement, and she removed her hand, turning to face both of her friends. "Thank you both for coming, by the way. It means a lot."

"How could we not?" Alpha replied with a small laugh.

Nye agreed with a nod. "Indeed! We would never abandon you in a time of need, Lady Flamegirl!" He paused, wilting slightly. "Er, that is, not to say Sir Gamecrazed and Squire Kirbopher are _abandoning_ us..."

"We know what you mean," Flamey assured him with a smile.

As if on some kind of signal, the huge golden gates beside them suddenly lurched, the padlock falling to the ground and fading away as the doors inside opened wide. The trio looked at each other warily before venturing in, sticking close together as they followed the path to the nearest giant entranceway to the stadium inside. It was eerie being here when it was so empty; Even when they'd been signing up, there had been small crowds of other users dotted all over.

Flamey stepped towards the purple entranceway, pausing as she regarded the elevators within. The closest would go only to the very top, so she decided that would be her best bet. She turned to face her friends. "You two stay here. I'm going in alone."

"What ho?" Nye cried in surprise. "I thought you wanted us to follow?"

"I need you as a back-up," Flamey explained. "We don't know what he wants just yet, so, if something goes wrong-"

"Just signal us and we'll be right there," Alpha interrupted, giving her his best encouraging smile.

Flamey nodded. "I will."

Nye looked like he wanted to object further, but gave a resigned sigh and said, "If you say so, Lady Flamegirl, that is what we shall do."

"Thank you," Flamey said one last time, then turned and headed off into the stadium.

"Good luck, Lady Flamegirl of dangerous daring!" Nye called after her. "May the blessed eyes of the Netkings watch over you!"

 

* * *

 

Flamey leapt down the stadium benches until she landed in the arena, staring down Zetto opposite her. He looked stern, but calm, the emotion of the tournament either gone or simply hidden away. Today was all business. "I'm glad you decided to show," he called.

Frowning, Flamey crossed her arms. "I'm gonna warn you straight up: I don't have the patience for games, alright? Whatever you want to tell me, _make it fast_."

Zetto closed his eyes in thought for a moment, then nodded, meeting her gaze. "That's reasonable."

Flamey blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Of course," Zetto replied, eyebrows raised. "I was going to tell you everything, but for now it's best we stick to the basics." He paused, taking in a deep breath. Flamey noticed his hands clenched at his sides and braced herself for the infodump she knew was coming. "This 'Forbidden Power," Zetto began, "is a _virus_. An _error_ hidden away in TOME's virtual walls, never meant to be discovered. It's brought itself back to life by latching on to your character, and your easily manipulated human mind."

At that, Flamey scoffed. "And who are you to be making claims like that about me? You don't _know_ me!"

Zetto closed his eyes. "You let it in, did you not?"

Flamey opened her mouth to answer, but couldn't think of a comeback against what she had to admit was true. Instead, she changed the subject. "So it's a virus then? How do I get rid of it?"

"I'm sorry," Zetto replied, looking up at her apologetically, "but it _can't_ be erased, only locked away. That's how it came to be where-ever it was when _you_ found it."

"Ex _cuse_ me!?" Flamey shot back, anger rising. "You mean to tell me there's no way to get rid of a _simple computer virus!?_ "

Zetto shook his head, frowning. "This _thing_ is anything but simple."

"It doesn't look like that to me!" Flamey spat. "Whoever you _really_ are, you're just too lazy to figure it out!"

Suddenly, Zetto shouted, " _What do you think we've been working our asses off trying to do all this time!?_ "

Although she drew back at the frustrated yell, Flamey was quick to return to glaring at Zetto suspiciously. "Who's 'we'?"

"I know what it's like," Zetto continued, ignoring Flamey's question as memories of distant pain began to seep into his speech. "It makes you feel invincible, _dominating_ everything around you. Throwing TOME's rules out the window, but at the price of your subconscious becoming a virus's plaything." He shook his head, staring Flamey right in the eyes with a determined look. "You _can't handle it_."

Once again, Flamey opened her mouth to object, only for something to stop her.

**_he is lying to you_ **

Flamey couldn't stop a gasp of fear. "Oh no..."

_**i only wanted to be free** _

She clasped her ears tightly with her hands, trying to block out the voice inside her head. "No, go away! I'm not listening to you!"

Zetto's eyes widened as he realised what was happening, and he leaned forward desperately. "See what I mean!?" he cried. "It's talking to you even now, isn't it? It's getting stronger by the day, and more out of control than ever! _It needs to be removed!_ "

_**kill him** _

" _Get out!_ " Flamey shouted, fighting to keep herself in control.

"It's taken longer than I wanted, but I finally have the means to extract it and contain it," Zetto said, clasping his newly-blue metallic arm. "This time, _for good_."

**_i want him to suffer all over again_ **

Flamey shook her head, eyes screwed shut. "What is _that_... supposed to-?" A sudden flash of pain in her skull cut her off, and she couldn't stop a surprised gasp. She was losing control and she knew it, the colours of her character model shifting between normal and the darker shades of the virus within.

Around them, the battlegrid formed. Zetto stepped forward, growling at the being who was hurting his friend. " _Do you hear me in there, you monster?_ I haven't forgotten, and I'll make sure you never hurt _anyone_ else!"

_**make him wish he were dead** _

With the last seconds she had available to her, Flamey screamed to the sky. "Get out _of my HEAD!_ " The grey-and-yellow flames surged around her, then receded, leaving behind only the demon.

Zetto's eyes narrowed. "There it is," he muttered to himself. It seemed to be slowly coming to, shaking off the last remnants of control Flamey had over it, and Zetto fought back an angry tirade at how it was violating his friend so easily. " _Hey!_ " It looked up at him, although Zetto couldn't be sure if there was recognition in its eyes or not. " _Missed me?_ "

It took the bait, and the virus-possessed character dove at him, but Zetto was ready, throwing out his robot arm and grabbing it around the neck. The absorption code flared to life and paralysed its prey, popping up a progress bar for Zetto to stare at as the virus twitched in his grasp. He whispered to his friend, hoping she could hear him. "Stay calm. It'll be over soon."

The progress bar inched slowly across to the right, and Zetto found he was beginning to struggle to hold the virus still while he extracted it. He was getting pins and needles in his left arm. "Half... way... there...!" He spoke more for himself than for Flamey, arm tensed as the pins and needles progressed to spikes of pain. He'd suffered worse at the hands of this _thing_ , so he was able to make himself ignore it to a degree.

Finally, as the bar reached ninety percent, it went red, flashing 'ERROR' in Zetto's face. He had just enough time to widen his eyes in fear before his mechanical arm exploded in a flash of virus static, throwing the pair apart. Flamey was dropped on the floor, but Zetto managed to stay standing, clutching at his cracked and sparking robot arm as he felt pain shooting up and down his actual left arm beneath it. Smoke wafted through the air from the damaged robotic claws, but Zetto ignored it, fighting against the familiar feeling of the virus poking at his brain.

Flamey groaned as she pushed herself into a sitting position, the colours of her avatar quickly returning to normal. She opened her eyes, but it took a moment longer for the blackness to fade from her vision. The first thing she saw was Zetto standing above her, his mechanical arm glowing black and his face visibly straining to contain it. Before she could react at all, the robot arm exploded in a cloud of static, and Zetto's eyes flashed black-on-red before he screamed, overcome by the yellow-striped fog.

"No!" Flamey gasped, jumping to her feet despite her exhaustion and leaping at Zetto. She coated herself in the flames of her Angry Burst attack, and flung out her fist at the last possible second to punch Zetto upside the head.

Time seemed to freeze for a precious second... then Zetto's face snapped forward again, red eyes glaring as he growled nasally at his attacker.

Flamey's eyes widened, and she only had the time to mutter "Oh sh-!" before the demon dove at her with a roar.


	12. An End

Nylocke could only watch as Alpha paced back and forth around their waiting spot. It had been barely five minutes since Flamey went in alone, and, despite their confident appearances at the time, worry and doubt had quickly caught up with them.

"Do you think she's okay?" Alpha suddenly asked.

Nye looked up at the stadium. "We have no reason to believe otherwise," he pointed out.

Alpha sighed, continuing his pacing. "Y-yeah... Yeah, of course."

Just as Nye was about to open his mouth, he heard the distinctive _thwoom_ of an explosion from above. He and Alpha looked up as one to see a giant dust-cloud blossoming above the stadium arena. "My word," Nye breathed.

Alpha glared. "I'd say that's a signal, wouldn't you?"

"Indeed," Nye nodded, and they ran off towards the stadium entrance.

 

* * *

 

Flamey shot off a series of fiery bullets at Zetto as she dodged his relentless offensive. She didn't have the time to think, focussed entirely on just barely avoiding his sharp claws, wildly thrown in her direction. At first, she was going quite well, managing to even down him at one point before he just got back up again with a glare, red eyes flashing in her direction. She leapt into the air, preparing her Rocket Burn, but Zetto followed, and the two pinballed against each other as they rose higher and higher into the air, two fiery balls of orange and blue, finally coming to a halt high in the sky, Zetto's right fist in Flamey's hands.

Out of the gauntlet on Zetto's arm sprouted his ki-blade, striking Flamey's hands with a jolt of pain. She barely had the time to recoil with a cry before the remains of his mechanical arm came to life, blue ki-energy pouring out of it like fire and forming into a large, three-clawed hand. She didn't have the time to react before she felt the horrid stinging of the blue fire around her middle, and was tossed straight down into the arena below.

Flamey groaned as she pulled herself up and out of the new crater she'd formed as she landed, struggling to keep fighting. She knew it was only a matter of time now before she lost, but under no circumstances could she let the _thing_ controlling her blue-haired rival roam the game freely. She would have to hold out until Alpha and Nye could find her. Ahead, she saw Zetto slowly floating back down to earth, glaring directly at her.

" _ **Kill,**_ " Zetto hoarsely muttered. " _ **Kill...**_ "

Flamey frowned, almost kicking herself in realisation. Earlier, Zetto had described this thing as a computer virus. He'd called Flamey 'easily manipulated', but she realised now he wasn't trying to insult her, just stating facts. A sufficiently advanced computer was _perfectly_ capable of manipulating people to its advantage... and she'd fallen right into its trap. "I think I understand you now," she laughed through her exhaustion. "That's your purpose, isn't it? 'Kill'? And all this time, I was just your _tool_ for doing it." She spat a grunt of disgust in its ever-watchful direction, pulling herself slowly to her feet.

" **K- _kill..._** " Zetto growled.

"All this time I just let you do what you wanted, pretended I couldn't see the signs. Well, I don't need you. I _never_ needed you!" Standing her ground on the checked arena floor, she gave one last shout, "Now _get out!_ "

Zetto's face twisted into a glare and he threw his mechanical arm out with a roar, shooting a blazing beam of ki-energy right at the spot Flamey had been standing, only just avoiding hitting her as she leapt to safety in the air. Firing up her Rocket Burn again, Flamey dove at Zetto, only to be struck back by his ki-blade, shouting in shock. More swipes followed, pinning Flamey down as strike after painful strike hit her and her character from all angles, until finally Zetto seemed to grow bored and stepped back to shoot ki-balls from his reformed left arm. The first hit Flamey in the face, and instinctively she managed to fire up an Angry Burst, shooting a wave of fire in Zetto's direction that just managed to overpower his attacks long enough for her to avoid them, leaping into the air and landing on Zetto, cloaked in flames.

Knocked back by the attack, Zetto froze, his ki-energy blown away. He grunted in pain, face cringing, then turned to the sky and roared, the static of the virus blazing around him.

Flamey stared at her opponent, remembering for the first time that there was still a _person_ under there that was suffering... and with a pain she had experienced herself. Her knees felt weak, and she was only just able to keep herself standing as the static faded away.

The red of Zetto's eyes was beginning to flash white. He looked over at Flamey pleadingly. " ** _K-_** _kill..._ me!" he managed to stutter, then choked as the virus reaffirmed control, slowly erasing all evidence of pain or struggle from Zetto's face.

"I'm sorry," Flamey whispered, although she knew the real Zetto beneath the virus couldn't hear her. "All I can do right now is stall for time."

As if on cue, it was then a muffled cry came from the stadium outside the corrupted battlegrid. " _Stephanie!_ " Flamey looked up with a smile, quickly locating Alpha and Nye stood battle-ready on the first level of seating. " _Steph, what do we do!?_ "

Flamey closed her eyes. It would waste precious time getting her plan through to them, so she would just have to (finally!) act on it and hope they got the idea. The demon opposite her was regaining consciousness, growling as it turned red eyes to her, so she readied her fists and charged forward, strategically keeping her flames out. Sure enough, the virus took the bait, reforming the ki-claw in an instant and punching Flamey in the chin, throwing her back-first to the floor.

The hit was stronger than she anticipated. Flamey opened her eyes only long enough to see the grid falling away around them before giving in to the darkness.

Zetto stalked towards his fallen opponent, reaching down to pull Flamey gently to her feet before holding her with his ki-claw, quickly draining the last remnants of the virus from her body.

_**what are you** _

" _Now!_ " came a shout from behind, and Zetto was struck in the back of the head by a fist coated in purple flames. Shocked by the attack on the virus, he didn't move as it was quickly followed by a blade of ice piercing through his torso, throwing Flamey from his grasp and causing him to choke and give a relieved groan before falling to the arena floor, colours returning to their usual brightness.

Alpha ran straight to Flamey's side, grabbing her hand. "Steph!" he cried. "Steph, wake up!"

After a moment, Flamey stirred and looked up at him with a smile. "Hey..."

"Oh thank god!" Alpha muttered, pulling his friend up into a sitting position as he hugged her tightly. "Are you hurt!?"

Flamey laughed tiredly as she carefully extricated her sore body from Alpha's virtual grasp. "I've been better, but I'm fine. What about Zetto?"

Alpha looked behind him at the downed character nearby. "Looks like he's knocked out cold. That thing must've really done a number on 'im."

"Yeah," Flamey agreed, eyes closed as she let herself rest a moment longer. "I hope he's not hurt."

"Worry about yourself first," Alpha advised, resting a hand on her shoulder. "He'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

Nye stepped towards them, chest held out proudly as he attracted his friends' (confused) attention. "Victory is firmly within our grasp, my comrades!" he boomed, TOME's sun slowly rising behind him. "I declare us the unofficial TRUE winners of the Gemini Tournament! We are not merely the yin and yang of virtual combat, nay, I say we are the most heroic and dignified protectors of the Terrain of Magical Expertise!" Eyes wide in self-inflicted excitement, he threw his hands to the air. "The heavens themselves may as well open up with a chorus of angels to sing of our valiant achievements!"

Alpha and Flamey stared up at Nye in the long ensuing pause, during which absolutely nothing proceeded to happen.

"A-any day now!" Nye insisted.

The silence of nothing happening echoed around them once again.

"Well, I tried," Nye sighed, giving his friends an embarrassed smile as they glanced at each other, Alpha amused and Flamey raising an eyebrow.

Flamey shook her head. "We should probably get out of here," she said, moving to sit up.

Alpha held out his hand to help her. "Are you sure? Maybe you should rest a little longer..."

"I'm fine," Flamey insisted, pulling herself to her feet with Alpha's help. "Just a little sore. I'm perfectly capable of playing this game now the Forbidden Power is gone." She paused and laughed. "It's almost hard to believe, actually. It's gone."

Grinning, Alpha nodded, excitement building at the prospect. "Yeah! We don't have to worry about it anymore!"

"Indeed!" Nye cried, waving a hand dramatically. "Lead the way onwards, Lady Flamegirl!"

Flamey smiled and wordlessly moved towards the stadium seating to the east, towards Lavendera. Alpha made to follow her, but paused beside Zetto's still avatar. He stared for a long while before dismissing his lingering concerns and rushing to catch up to his friends. _'He's fine. Of course he is.'_

 

* * *

 

**MESSAGE**   
**Hey, sorry about all our PMs from earlier. We're gonna retry the Shadow Guard Idol quest in ;Lavendera, you want to join us?**   
**-Flamey**

 

Kirb closed the message with a sigh, returning his gaze to the crater in the arena floor. Zetto's 'body' was gone, he could only guess where, and GC stood not far behind him, the only one of his friends to have been let in on his little secret. Today's events hadn't turned out the way he'd hoped, but at least they were, as GC had said, _over_... and thank goodness for that. His body still ached from the lingering effects of the virus possession, and it was only his concern for his friends that had made him even return to the stadium after disconnecting from Zetto after the earlier battle. He wondered if they'd noticed Zetto's greyed out eyes before they left.

"Should we join them?" GC asked, clearly having received a similar message from Nye. "Rockoon is unlikely to interrupt us again."

Kirb smiled. "Sure." With that, he turned away from the crater and went to join GC. It was time to have some fun. This was about as good as it was going to get, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deleted Scene coming tomorrow!


	13. DELETED SCENE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH GEEZ SORRY FOR FORGETTING ABOUT THIS! I went and said 'coming tomorrow' and totally forgot about it for ages! Here it is!

_The break after Demon Flamey first appears in Chapter Five marks the point where Chapter Six originally started, as the second half of the events of Episode Five. I had this additional scene that filled the majority of the original Chapter Six (the first bearer of the title "Demon's Run"), an offscreen meeting between Zetto and Kizuna discussing Demon-Flamey and the upcoming Gemini Tournament. I was very anxious from the beginning to not make this just a headcanon scene with Alpha swapped out for Flamey, so my idea from the beginning was that it was to showcase Zetto comparing himself to Flamey... and it was only while writing I realised Zetto didn't want to do that until Episode Ten, so it didn't end up happening here. Without this 'hook', I struggled to justify keeping these scene in, so I eventually cut it and remerged the rest of the existing chapter back into Chapter Five._

 

* * *

 

Zetto fought to keep a worried frown off his face as he arrived in the hidden rooms of the moon that night. He was feeling a bit flighty, logging in and out of his two accounts repeatedly like this, but it was hardly his fault he'd gotten as far as arriving in Lavendera as Kirb before noticing a poster for the tournament and remembering, _'oh yeah, I just had_ a huge fight _with Flamey and Alpha, they probably don't even want to know me anymore!'_ and logging out again. He'd have stayed off TOME after that and found something else to do, except he noticed Kizuna was back online, so he decided it would be best to check in with her before anything else.

"Kizuna?" he called as he walked along the red gantry underneath the winding body of the white dragon they had built. "I know you're here. It's me!"

"I heard you the first time," came a distorted electronic voice before a small red cat walked into the light, quickly morphing into the cat-eared avatar he knew best. "What happened after I disconnected?"

Zetto shrugged. "The thing destroyed you," he said frankly. "I held it off as best I could, but it caught me off-guard and got me too."

Kizuna frowned. "Were you able to disconnect in time?"

"Of course," Zetto assured her, hands raised to cover his mild lie. "No more than a bad sting. How about you?"

"Same," Kizuna sighed, rubbing her jaw. "It got a good hit in, though. I wasn't expecting it to hurt that bad."

Zetto nodded. "I did better second try." He couldn't resist a small smile. "It looks like our secret weapon works, by the way."

Kizuna perked up. "You tested it," she stated more than asked. "Did it...?"

Grinning, Zetto elaborated, "Well, I don't think I did anything to hurt it, but it didn't hurt me and I was able to actually fight it off." He chuckled, petting his mechanical arm. "I'm sure the one we put on Alpha will work better than this one does."

"That's a relief," Kizuna sighed. "At least we know it works to some extent."

Zetto nodded, and the two stood in silence for a few moments.

"Did anything else happen?" Kizuna asked.

"Well," Zetto mumbled, staring at the floor. "Not exactly. I did want to ask you a favour though."

Frowning, Kizuna replied, "What is it?"

"You know the tournament coming up?"

"The Gemini Tournament, yes," Kizuna said, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What about it?"

Zetto tried not to look as nervous as he felt. "Would you... sign up with me? As my partner?"

Kizuna stared at him in unreadable silence.

"Y-y'know," Zetto continued, "it could be fun. I kinda challenged Flamey to meet her there, and I kinda need a partner to do that. I mean, we both know we're the best players of this game, may as well prove it, huh?"

"Sure."

"But, I mean, if you don't want to-," Zetto paused and blinked in surprise as he registered Kizuna's reply. "Huh? You... will?"

Kizuna shrugged. "May as well. I'm going to have agents there anyway, so if we know for sure our target will be at the tournament we can kill two birds with one stone." She stretched her arms idly. "We can keep an eye on everything while we're at it."

Zetto's stunned blinks gave way to a small smile. "Thanks," he said quietly.

"Save it," Kizuna replied, spinning around and walking back to her hideaway in the back of the base. "We both know you'll be signing up as _both_ your characters, anyway."

Shrugging, Zetto couldn't resist a grin. "You know me too well," he laughed. Privately, he worried about his friends. Flamey had, it seemed, fallen for the same trap he had, and now they _all_ were paying for it. _'With any luck, this'll all be over soon... I hope.'_


End file.
